J&K: Indian Army in joint operation eliminates LeT commander ‘Quari’ in Rajouri encounter
Rajouri (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], November 24 (ANI): The Indian Army in a joint operation with Paramilitary forces and Jammu and Kashmir police foiled a terrorist attempt in Rajouri, eliminating two terrorists including a top LeT commander and sniper, identified as Quari.
“During the last few days, there were continuous inputs of the movement of two terrorists in general Area Kalakot and all the intelligence agencies were working relentlessly to eliminate them. On the night of November 19, a confirmed input of a high-ranked terrorist leader of LeT namely ‘Quari’ who was active in the Rajouri- Poonch area, along with one more accomplice, was received. Immediately coordinated joint operations by the Indian Army, JKP and intelligence agencies were launched,” the officials said.
Five soldiers, including two Army Captains, lost their lives in the firefight carried over from Wednesday.
“On November 22 at approx. 08:30 in the morning, the place where our team was searching the jungle, where some civilians were also in close vicinity, the terrorists opened fire. Sensing danger to the lives of innocent women and children, the officer came out of his cover and pinned down the terrorists, thus averting imminent danger to the civilians. While saving the lives of the residents, the officer was hit by a stray volley of fire and made the supreme sacrifice,” the officials added.
Heavy fire continued to be brought down on the terrorists one of whom was likely to be hit. With approaching darkness, more operational teams were built up to cordon the entire area and all the escape routes were blocked. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, night-enabled cameras and other modern equipment were deployed to keep the area under surveillance, through the night.
“Search operations re-commenced on November 23, wherein a search of the contact site led to the recovery of the body of one terrorist who had been eliminated on November 22. Further operations to neutralize the second terrorist, who was attempting to break the cordon led to the resumption of the fight at 0740 hrs. In the ensuing operations, another soldier sustained a fatal gunshot injury. Finally, by approximately 1330 hours, the second terrorist was also eliminated,” the officials said.
Both these terrorists are foreign terrorists of which Quari was one of the most wanted terrorists, having been trained in Pakistan and Afghanistan. An IED expert and trained Sniper, Quari was the mastermind of civilian killings at Dhangri in January this year and the attack on security forces in Kandi.
“A large amount of ammunition and war-like stores have been recovered from these terrorists. It is estimated that they were planning to initiate terror-related activities to bring fear in the civil population and cause unrest in the area. The area sanitization and search is still in progress. The ops have been successful owing to the seamless synergy between the Police, Army and other security agencies operating in the area,” the officials added.
