Family houses of three more Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists torn down; 175 suspects detained

The witnesses said that the family house of Ehsan-ul-Haq Sheikh, a wanted militant of the LeT, in Muran village of Pulwama was blown up shortly after midnight. The police sources said that Sheikh was imparted arms training in Pakistan in 2018 and had recently “infiltrated” into the Valley.

A similar action caused extensive damage to the family house of Zakir Ahmad Gania at Matalhama in Kulgam. The police sources said that Gania had left his home to join the militants ranks in 2023 and has been involved in several terror incidents since.

In Shopian’s Chotipora village, the family house of Shahid Ahmad Kutay who has been active as a militant for the past about four years and is currently associated with the LeT was also destroyed. Kuttay has been involved in many anti-national activities, the officials claimed.

On Thursday night and early Friday, the security forces had demolished the family houses of two LeT cadres, Adil Hussain Thoker and Asif Sheikh, suspected to be involved in Tuesday’s terror attack in Baisaran meadow near Pahalgam, at separate locations, using ‘explosives’.

The security agencies had on Wednesday released the sketches of three suspected militants involved in the attack. Identifying them as Hashim Musa alias Suleiman, Adil Hussain Thoker and Ali Bhai alias Abu Talha, they had said that they might still be hiding in the surrounding forests.

The J&K police had said they suspect the involvement of a fourth attacker and announced a cash reward of ₹ 20 lakh each for the information that would lead to the elimination of perpetrators.

The family members of Asif Sheikh had said that the security forces “planted explosives” to blow up their house at Mongaham in the Tral area of southern Pulwama district.

In a separate action, the security forces destroyed the family house of Adil Thoker at Gurre village in the Bijbehara area of neighbouring Anantnag district. Thoker’s sketch figured among the three suspected perpetrators of the Pahalgam carnage, the other two being Pakistani nationals. His family members said that they were asked to vacate the house and then they blew up the house by planting explosives. The villagers while speaking to visiting reporters corroborated the claim.

The police sources said that Adil Thoker had gone to Pakistan on a student visa in 2018 and returned to the Valley last year before joining the militants’ ranks. According to the police records, Musa and Ali have been active in the Valley for almost two years now whereas Asif Sheikh is reportedly their local collaborator.

The officials had claimed that during the search of Asif Sheikh’s house, the security personnel discovered objects and wires protruding from a box. They said the team withdrew, and later the members of the Corps of Engineers who were called to the spot confirmed the presence of explosives and that, while these were being defused, a blast took place damaging the house.

A report from Delhi said that the intelligence agencies have compiled a list of 14 local terrorists actively operating in J&K. The report said that the security forces have been given a free hand by the government to take “severest possible action” against them which might include tearing down their family houses.

Meanwhile, the police in southern Anantnag are, in close collaboration with the Army, CRPF and other Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), spearheading a tough campaign against the separatist militants and their alleged Over Ground Workers (OGW) and other associates in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack.

As part of the campaign, numerous raids and cordon-and-search operations were conducted across the district during the past four days during which around 175 suspects were detained for questioning.

Also, the police and other security forces have established additional Mobile Vehicle Check Points (MVCPs) to detect suspicious movements and ensure public safety. Similar steps are underway in the Ganderbal district and some other areas of the Valley. Unofficial sources put the number of those detained during raids and search operations across the Valley between 1,700 and 2,000 including former militants, alleged OWGs of various outfits and “terrorist associates”.

On Saturday, the police conducted searches at multiple locations across the Srinagar district and detained 64 persons for questioning. The police said that most of those taken into custody are “terrorist associates” or OWGs of proscribed militant outfits in connection with the “furtherance of investigation” into cases registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

A police spokesman here said the searches were conducted in accordance with proper legal procedures in the presence of executive magistrates and independent witnesses under the supervision of the officers of J&K police. “The searches were carried out to seize weapons, documents, digital devices etc. with the objective of evidence collection and intelligence gathering to detect and deter any conspiratorial or terrorist activity against the security of the nation”, he said.

He added, “This decisive action of J&K police aims to dismantle the terrorist ecosystem in J&K by identifying and taking legal action against individuals engaged in such anti-national and criminal activities. The Srinagar Police remains committed to maintaining peace and security in the city. Any individual found furthering the agenda of violence, disruption, or unlawful activities will face strict consequences under the law”.

In a related development, the J&K police’s counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) together with the Army’s 12 Sikh Light Infantry unit busted a militant hideout in Machil area close to the Line of Control (LoC) in northwestern Kupwara district.

The police said that acting on specific intelligence inputs, a joint operation was launched in the forested area of Sedori Nala, Mushtaqabad Machil (Samsha Behak forest region) during which a terrorist hideout was located and a significant cache of arms and ammunition, including five AK-47 rifles with eight magazines and 660 rounds of ammunition, one pistol with one magazine and one round of ammunition, and 50 rounds of M4 rifle ammunition recovered from the site.

“The recovery is a major success, especially in view of indications that terrorists were preparing to carry out activities aimed at disturbing peace and order in the region,” the police said, adding, “The timely action by the security forces has dealt a major blow to such nefarious designs and has averted potential threats to civilian lives and public safety."