Jammu and Kashmir director general of police (DGP), Dilbag Singh, on Sunday, said that security forces have killed 40 Pakistan-based militants in different operations in the union territory this year.
DGP said that they are attempting to locate and recover dozens of ‘readymade improvised explosive devices (IEDs)’ pushed into the state by Pakistan agencies.
The DGP also said that militants were targeting non-locals and those living here for a long time to provoke a violent reaction against Kashmiris living in other states of the country.
Singh said that the structure of most of the militant outfits, working in the valley, had been destroyed.
“Their leadership has been wiped out to a greater extent. Pakistan agencies mostly try to keep the command of Jaish and Lashkar in the hands of Pakistani terrorists so that they can directly control the activities here.
Our attempt this year was focused on outside terrorists who come here to mislead youngsters, destroy peace and inflict damage on life and property. In that context, there were many successful operations in which 40 Pakistan-based terrorists were killed in different operations,” Singh told media on the sidelines of a sporting event — the Kashmir Marathon — in Srinagar.
He said that there have been attempts to push more Pakistan-based terrorists. “There are reports of some new groups getting active after crossing (the LoC). Our efforts are continuing, and I hope we will be successful,” he said. The police chief said that infiltration was under control in comparison to past years, but Pakistan is attempting to push readymade IEDs.
“There are attempts from time to time to push in terrorists from across the border. There were attempts in Rajouri and Poonch which were foiled. Similarly, in Baramulla and Kupwara, the attempts were foiled. Also in some operations, we recovered dozens of IEDs which are ready to use. Unfortunately, there were some incidents in which these readymade IEDs were used, particularly in Jammu, where there was some loss of life and property.
Two such types of blasts happened in buses in Udhampur, and earlier, a blast had happened in this district in a vegetable market. Also, there was an incident on a bus earlier,” he said.
He said that with the weather changing there would be attempts to push in more infiltrators before the snowfall. “Pakistan agencies will try to push in more terrorists. But our border security grid is strong. That is why, many such attempts have been foiled,” he said.