Security forces have managed to kill 101 militants this year in Jammu and Kashmir, and are now focusing on ‘neutralising’ around 125 more, including 25 non-locals, in the southern districts of the Valley, General officer commanding of the Army’s XV Corps, Lt General B S Raju said on Monday.
The officer said while it was difficult to put out an exact number of militants active at the moment, the security forces were looking at 100 odd local militants and around 25 non-locals in south Kashmir, Gen Raju told reporters at a hurriedly convened press conference at the Victor Force Headquarters in Awantipora, 33 km from here.
Officials said the total number of militants killed in J&K has crossed 101 since the beginning of this year and the security forces have lost 29 personnel including some officers during the counter-insurgency operations.
Gen Raju said the successes against the insurgents were due to the professionalism of all agencies involved in these operations.
“Starting from the intelligence given by the Jammu and Kashmir Police, the solid crowd control done by the CRPF and the appropriate tactics that were used by the forces on ground ensured that it was done in the most professional manner,” he added.
Gen Raju said he would give credit to the local population, “which kind of facilitated in conducting the operation in such a smooth manner”.
“We will continue with our professional operations in a manner that we cause minimum inconvenience to public and our primary aim remains to bring in peace. We are neutralising somebody so that people can live without fear, they can go about their routine in a manner where their livelihood is not disturbed. That is our primary focus,” he added.
Asked about the emergence of The Resistance Force (TRF), the corps commander said, “There is no organisation called TRF. It is a social media entity which is trying to take credit for anything and everything that is happening within the Valley. It is in the electronic domain. We are taking appropriate action to neutralise it. To me, it is a mirror image of a foreign entity of Lashker-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad,” he said.