Srinagar: Change in strategy by the Indian forces in their fight against terror has led to the killing of 39 hardcore terrorists in the Kashmir Valley last month, while civilian casualties have been minimised.  

In order to avoid civilian casualties during anti-militancy operations, especially in south Kashmir, the security forces have been carrying out night-time strikes, and this has yielded good results. 

The successful operations that led to the high number of killings indicate that the terrorists are facing the heat. The militancy-infested districts of south Kashmir saw 133 terrorists being killed so far this year.

The terrorists from outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Hizbul Mujahideen and Ansaar-Gazwatul Hind have been eliminated. The list of slain terrorists include Naveed Jatt, Umar Ganai, Azad Malik, Basit Mir, Waseem Wagay, Adil Lone and Waris Ahmed.

“Yes, the new strategy had helped us and saved civilian casualties during the encounters. This is the reason we carry out operations in the night. During such operations, we make sure that the protesters who come in large numbers near the encounter area are stopped at a distance so that the forces can carry out the operations smoothly,” a top police official of Jammu and Kashmir told MyNation.

The official said that stopping civilian casualties, yet carrying out anti-terror operations smoothly, was a big challenge for the security forces.

“We decided to change the strategy, and this had worked nicely. We have got good results in the recent encounters,” he added.

“In the recent operation in Sharshali area of Awantipora, cordon-and-search was launched swiftly, before dawn, jointly by the police and military. The forces completed this operation in 10 minutes, in which two Hizbul terrorists were killed,” he said.

The official said the terrorists were on the back foot due to intense anti-militancy operations and they will not be able to carry out any large-scale attacks on the security forces for sometime.

“The good news is that the local recruitment of youth into militancy is zero. No one joined militancy in the past 33 days,” he added.