Tag: Counter-terrorism

No Surgical Strike, But Terrorist Infiltration Foiled from Balakote Sector, Says India

The ministry asserted it was not a surgical strike, as claimed (File PTI Photo)

Hours after a report said India made another surgical strike on Pakistan, the Ministry of Defence on Tuesday refuted the claims and said that Indian Army foiled an infiltration bid by Pakistan on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Balakote Sector. However, the ministry asserted it was not a surgical strike, as claimed.

Ministry, in an official statement, said that on Monday morning, two terrorists were detected by alert troops to be making attempts to cross the LoC onto the Indian side, “making use of inclement weather, dense fog, thick foliage, and undulating ground in Hamirpur area of Balakote Sector.”

Earlier today, a newspaper report claimed that Indian Army has once again carried out a surgical strike in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Quoting sources, the report claimed that Army destroyed four launching pads of Pakistani terrorists by entering 2.5 kilometers across the LoC on Saturday night.

It claimed that seven to eight terrorists were killed in India’s surgical strike and all the soldiers of the Indian Army returned safely after the mission.

WHAT MINISTRY SAID?

“Intelligence Inputs received from Multiple Intelligence agencies and Jammu and Kashmir Police revealed the presence of terrorists waiting to cross the LC from opposite own Balakote Sector. Based on these inputs own surveillance grid was placed on heightened alert and multiple ambushes were sited at suitable location,” the ministry’s statement read.

As the terrorists approached India’s ambush sites, they were challenged and then engaged with effective fire, the ministry said, adding that this forced the terrorists to flee from the ambush site by making use of weather and ground conditions.

“However effective fire resulted in one terrorist falling down on the ground near the LC. Additional troops were then moved into the area and search operations commenced in the afternoon after improvement of weather conditions and visibility,” it said.

During searches in the area, Indian Army recovered an AK 47 rifle with two magazines, 30 rounds, two grenades, and Pak-origin medicines.

Source: https://www.news18.com/india/surgical-strike-balakote-sector-indian-army-statement-terrorist-infiltration-bid-foiled-pakistan-8545251.html

Designated ‘terrorist’ by India, KCF chief Paramjit Singh Panjwar shot dead in Lahore

Paramjit Singh Panjwar. Pic credit- Twitter

Wanted Khalistani terrorist Paramjit Singh Panjwar was on Saturday shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Lahore, the provincial capital of Pakistan’s Punjab province, the police said.

Panjwar (63) was heading the Khalistan Commando Force-Panjwar group and was designated as a terrorist by India under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in July 2020. “The gunmen shot Panjwar in his head and he was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital,” a Pakistani police officer said, adding his guard was also injured and succumbed later.

Panjwar along with his guard was walking in a park at Sun Flower Housing Society in Jauhar town of Lahore where he was residing when the two assailants opened fire at them and fled on a motorcycle, the officer said. Pakistan’s intelligence agencies, including the ISI, Military Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), cordoned off the area and launched an investigation. The killing is the latest instance of terror kingpins being targeted outside India. In February, Bashir Ahmad Peer, a self-styled commander of the terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Pakistan’s Rawalpindi.

In the same month, former commander of Pakistan-based terror outfit Al Badr, Syed Khalid Raza, was killed in a similar manner outside his residence in Karachi while Kashmir-born terrorist, Aijaz Ahmad Ahanger, alias Abu Usman Al-Kashmiri, who had joined the Islamic State (IS), was reportedly killed in February in Kunar province of Afghanistan.

On the deadly attack on Saturday, an eyewitness told the CTD that Panjwar was in the park around 6 am when a gunman came close to them and opened fire. “After the firing, the assailant rushed to the gate of the society and fled along with his accomplice who was waiting for him outside,” he said. A source said the assailants had conducted a recce for a week.

Panjwar had joined the KCF in 1986. In 1986, the KCF was headed by Sukhdev Singh, alias Sukha Shapai, who was then serving as a police constable in Punjab (India). In 1989, Shapai was killed in a police encounter at Tanda in Hoshiarpur and thereafter, Kanwarjit Singh of Sultanwind in Amritsar became the KCF chief while Paramjit Singh Panjwar became its deputy chief. After Kanwarjit’s death, Panjwar became the KCF chief. Before he escaped to Pakistan in 1995-96, Panjwar was involved in a number of killings in Punjab, according to official sources. Though he was inactive for the last couple of years, Panjwar had been operating from Lahore and was involved in arranging arms training for youths in Pakistan. He was engaged in supplying arms and ammunition and subsequent infiltration into India for targeting VIPs and economic installations.

“Panjwar’s complicity in promoting drug trade and fake Indian currency notes (FICN) operation in Punjab are well documented. Efforts are being made by his organisation KCF to reactive former militants, sleeper cells and also those on bail and it has been in favour of forming a nexus with other forces hostile to India,” the ministry had said.

Source: https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/designated-terrorist-by-india-kcf-chief-shot-dead-in-lahore-505467

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