#PulwamaAttack mastermind Abdul Rasheed Ghazi gunned down
Four days after 40 CRPF soldiers were martyred in the barbaric Pulwama terror attack, the alleged mastermind was killed in an encounter in Jammu & Kashmir on Monday, claimed reports. The Jaish-e-Mohammed orchestrated attack was allegedly planned by Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, who also goes by the alias Kamran. After the attack, Ghazi stayed in the valley and was gunned down in the latest encounter.
Three terrorists, including Ghazi, killed by forces in the encounter
Ghazi, a close aide of Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit chief Maulana Masood Azhar, is believed to have masterminded the Pulwama attack. He was one of the three terrorists killed in the encounter today. The second one killed in the gunfight was identified as Hilal Ahmed, a top JeM terrorist and a local bomb specialist. Police are trying to identify the third terrorist killed in the gunfight.
Four soldiers, including Army Major, martyred in encounter
J&K Police, paramilitary forces, and army launched a joint operation on Sunday night after receiving information that 2-3 terrorists were holed up in a house in Pinglana village of Pulwama. As the security forces attempted to neutralize the terrorists, they opened gunfire. The exchange went on for hours in the night and four soldiers, including an Army major, lost their lives.
RIP, bravehearts!
Ghazi was JeM's Chief Operational Commander and top recruiter
Ghazi was reportedly the "Chief Operational Commander" of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed and a top recruiter for the terror outfit too. He was tasked with radicalizing and training recruits in Kashmir. According to sources, forces had been hunting for him for years but he managed to escape as he used to travel from village to village to recruit youngsters for Jaish.
An IED specialist, Ghazi was close to Masood Azhar
Ghazi was reportedly close to JeM chief Masood Azhar. He was an IED specialist who used his skills to plan the attack. It was Ghazi who trained Adil Ahmad Dar, the suicide bomber who carried out the devastating attack. Ghazi's entry into South Kashmir changed the way JeM operated as he used the tricks of the Taliban to destabilize the area.
J&K Police on the Pulwama encounter
A civilian also lost life in the encounter
The latest Pulwama encounter was carried out jointly by the personnel of the 55 Rashtriya Rifles, CRPF, and the Special Operation Group of the Jammu & Kashmir Police. The four personnel who lost their lives in the gunfight were identified as Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal, Hawaldar Sheo Ram, and Sepoys Hari Singh and Ajay Kumar. A civilian also reportedly died in the encounter.
A little about the Pulwama terror attack
A convoy of CRPF which had 70 buses was attacked on the Jammu-Srinagar highway on February 14. A Mahindra Scorpio, laced with nearly 350kg of explosives, rammed into a bus. In the dastardly attack, 40 jawans lost their lives and nearly 50 were seriously injured. Terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for worst terror attack since the 2016 Uri attack.
