4 terrorists have been killed in an encounter by Indian security forces in the Khiram Srigufara village in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district. According to reports, the terrorists killed belong to the Islamic State of Jammu and Kashmir.
J&K police DGP Shesh Paul Vaid shared on Twitter that the terrorists are believed to be from Islamic State of Jammu and Kashmir.
The police chief later confirmed in another tweet that 2 more terrorists have been gunned down by the security forces. According to reports, one of the terrorists killed has been identified as the chief of ISIS’ Jammu and Kashmir operations, Dawood. The terrorists reportedly opened fire at the policemen and some locals also pelted stones to help the terrorists. One policeman was also martyred during the operations.
https://twitter.com/AdityaRajKaul/status/1010057059260354560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
According to reports, some locals started stone pelting on the security forces to help the terrorists. The police took retaliatory action and several stone pelters were reportedly injured in the clashes.
The top ISIS commander killed in this operation is reportedly Dawood Sofi alias Burhan Musaib, who joined ISIS in 2017 and is originally from HMT in Srinagar.
https://twitter.com/AdityaRajKaul/status/1010012076012519424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The state of Jammu and Kashmir was brought under governor’s rule after BJP withdrew from the alliance with PDP. The Anantnag encounter was the first major anti-terrorist operation in the state after the central government declared the suspension of anti-terror operations to be over after the month of Ramzan.
This encounter is arguably the first in where active ISIS terrorists have been killed in India. The presence of ISIS in India has long since been reported. In Kerala, active recruitment centres have been reportedly running through which several Muslims have reportedly travelled to Syria to join the global terror organisation. Earlier this year, female ISIS recruiter Yasmeen Mohammad Zahid was sentenced to 7 years of prison for recruiting people from Kasargod, Kerala to join ISIS.
In the Kashmir valley too, ISIS flags have been reported many times. Reports have emerged that the ISIS had prepared a blueprint for the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in the valley. ISIS supporters and sympathisers are believed to have started a group called Ansarul Khilafah to further the ISIS’ agenda of the terror organisation. In 2015, flags were seen in the valley during protest marches, announcing the arrival of ‘Islamic State of Jammu and Kashmir’.
It is notable here that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also known as Daesh, is a global terror organisation that has terrorised the world and have been wreaking havoc in Iraq, Syria and nearby regions. ISIS has been involved in a widely reported genocide of Yazidis. They also killed 39 Indian workers near Mosul in India. Their bodies were recovered and identified only after Mosul was freed from ISIS clutches and MoS for External Affairs and former army chief Gen V K Singh had flown to Iraq to bring back their remains.
The state of Jammu and Kashmir faces constant terrorist attacks. There were previous reports of almost 450 trained terrorists in launch pads along LoC waiting to infiltrate into India to target the Amarnath Yatra. If ISIS is indeed operational in the Kashmir valley, it will pose another grave security concern for the Indian forces.