Pak terrorist who crossed over with 9 snipers gunned down; Republic accesses case file

In yet another successful operation in the valley, the security forces neutralised a top Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) commander Waleed Bhat alias Lambu along with two other terrorists on Friday. The joint operation was carried out by 9 Rashtriya Rifles, 18 Battalion of CRPF and J&K Police’s SOG in Chimmer area of Kulgam District. The killing of Waleed undoubtedly is a huge success as the IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar puts it. Republic TV has accessed the case file of the Pakistani backed terrorist who had crossed over along with 12 other terrorists in 2018 and has been active since then. 

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Responsible for a large no. of attacks

According to the case file accessed by Republic TV, Waleed was an IED expert who was active in the Kulgam area. Categorised as an A++ terrorist, Waleed was responsible for a large number of attacks against security forces during the last two years in Kulgam districts. Actively backed by Pakistan, Waleed had crossed over with 9 snipers and M4 rifles. In fact, after one encounter that he managed to escape, he left behind one M4 American rifle. After another encounter, Waleed had left behind a PIKA machine gun. Interestingly, Waleed had managed to escape from the cordon four times in the last two months. 

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He was a close associate of Ismail alias Fauji Bhai, who was the mastermind of Lethapora Attack. Also the fabricator of 2019 and 2020 IEDs. He was involved in Pulwama car laden IED which was foiled by the forces in the Rajpora area of Pulwama. After Fauji Bhai was eliminated, Waleed was given charge of south Kashmir where he was planning to carry an attack on any security grid, with prime focus on Yatra. His close associate Jameel Pasha is currently active. One of his close associates Haroon Rashid was killed in the Uri encounter in 2019. He too was involved in the Lethapora attack. 

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Sources within the security apparatus say that there are credible inputs to suggest that Waleed was planning to carry out an attack on the security grid that was looking after the yatra arrangements.

Brigadier VS Thakur said, “We want to send the message to the people that the Amarnath yatra will be conducted peacefully without any hindrance. There are inputs that there are trying their best to target the yatra but our mechanisms are in place. The National Highway 44 remains sensitive.” Over 100 terrorists are currently active in South Kashmir of which at least 30 are Pakistani.

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