Pulwama anniv: '8 of 19 attackers killed, 7 arrested'

SRINAGAR: On the fourth anniversary of the Pulwama terror attack, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Kashmir Zone, Vijay Kumar on Tuesday said of the 19 militants involved in the attack in 2019, eight have been killed, seven arrested and four, including three Pakistanis, are still alive.

Talking to the mediapersons after paying tributes to the fallen CRPF men in the dastardly attack, ADGP Kumar, said the security forces are after Jaish-e-Muhammad and almost all their top commanders have been neutralised.

"At present, the JeM only has 7-8 locals and 5-6 active Pakistanis, including Mossa Solaimani (wanted terrorist)," he said, adding that police are after them and they will be neutralised soon.

He said the police are not only busting militant modules but are also cracking down on narco-terrorism and terror funding. "We have been able to recover Rs 41 lakh and recently in Baramulla, Rs 26 lakh was recovered," he said.

He also said the cases registered against OGWs (over-ground workers) involved in such activities are being disposed of at a rapid pace.

"The number of such cases has reduced from 1.600 in October last year to 950 at present and 13 convictions have also been made so far."

He further said a total of 37 local militants are presently active and only two of them -- Farooq Nalli and Riyaz Chatri -- are old while the rest have joined recently.

On this day in 2019, at least 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel lost their lives after a suicide bomber rammed a car laden with explosives into the security force convoy. Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed had claimed responsibility for the attack.