Security forces achieved a major success on Monday when they killed a top Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) commander who was the main conspirator of the Pulwama suicide attack on a CRPF convoy that left over 40 soldiers dead on February 14, army officials said.
Mudasir Ahmad Khan was killed at Pinglish village in neutralised terrorist Burhan Wani's hometown of Tral in south Kashmir's Pulwama district, the officials said. Along with him, another terrorist, identified as a Pakistan national by the name of Khalid, has also been taken out.
"Today, we have eliminated JeM second commander Mudasir who was active for more than a year. He was a terrorist from Tral and was the main conspirator behind the attack on the CRPF convoy in Pulwama. Kamran (another conspirator and Pakistan national) was eliminated on February 18," said Lieutenant General KJS Dhillon, General Officer Commanding (GoC) of 15 Corps of the army.
The army commander said following specific intelligence gleaned from sources, the security forces cordoned off a house said to be housing the trio. The operation lasted over a night and day.
"The JeM leadership has been hit badly. There was not a scratch on our own forces. I would like to assure that the operation against the foreign terrorists and JeM will continue. It is a work in progress. We will eliminate all of them," he said.
Since the Pulwama attack, the security forces have eliminated 18 terrorists of whom 14 were from JeM. Of the 14 JeM men, six were top commanders.
"The main conspirators, Kamran and Mudasir, have been eliminated. We have been going forcefully after JeM in the last three weeks. The aim is to eliminate them at the earliest so that they cannot carry out a Pulwama-like attack again. And we have reasonably succeeded in that," he said.
Inspector General of CRPF (Operations) Zulifiquar Hassan said the operation was doubly significant because Mudasir Khan was involved in the December 31, 2017 fidayeen attack on Lethpora camp.
"But our job is still not done. There are very important players still out there... the people who radicalised Mudasir, the criminal who supplied the explosives for the Pulwama attack. We are working in close coordination with NIA and, sooner or later, we will eliminate them," Hassan said.
Inspector General SP Pani said Mudasir was also wanted for trying to recruit youngsters. "Recruitment has come down in past three months," he said.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Dhillon said Pakistan has been resorting to unprovoked firing on the civilians in the Kamalkote area of Uri along the Line of Control (LOC). "Pakistan is not able to hit army so it is targeting villages, particularly Kamalkote. We have hit their military targets," he said,adding that the army has been prepared for counterinsurgency operations and helping out the civilian administration in maintaining law and order. "At any point of time, we are prepared with 100 percent efficiency," he said.