He was the last of the three Jaish-e-Mohammed militants still holding on. He put up a good fight even as two of his accomplices lay dead in the sprawling battalion headquarters of BSF, close to Indian Air Force base that they had raided before the first light at 4.30 am after cutting the fence that separates the camp from the civilian colonies—Friends Colony and Gogo.
The sprawling camp left the militants confused. They struggled to decide where to attack. Before they could launch an attack, the BSF sentry spotted them and rained bullets on them. One was fatally wounded, leaving him incapacitated. The other two opened indiscriminate fire and lobbed grenades at the BSF men.
The heavy gunfire forced many people to jump out of their beds in fright. The attack alarmed the IAF base nearby. Sources said some of the IAF assets were relocated as a precaution.
The second militant, who moved into the mess was challenged by BSF men led by sub inspector B.K. Yadav. He fired a volley of bullets, injuring Yadav who retaliated and pinned the terrorist down. A fierce encounter ensued.
Yadav was shifted to the hospital where he succumbed.
Because of the size of the camp and its proximity to IAF base and civilian airport, the Quick Reaction Team of CRPF, police and the Army reached the spot. The Army threw a ring a security to the camp outside while BSF, CRPF, and police went for the militant firing from the administration building. The CRPF men were led by Ravdeep Singh Sahi.
After zeroing in on the building, the troops surrounded the building and fired rockets at the militant amid a volley of heavy gunfire.
''We had him trapped but he was holding on,'' said a CRPF officer. ''We fired grenades and hail fire at his position but it he kept firing back.'' Then we smoked him out, the officer said. '' We fired several shells of smoke and he rushed out huffing and puffing, and then we neutralised him''
The officer said they had information about possible terrorist strike.'' We are always ready for such operations and that is what we trained for,'' he said, refusing to give his name.
The attack created panic in the area and some airlines canceled their flights. However, the air traffic resumed soon after the QRT had reached the spot and areas were secured with reinforcements.
IGP Muneer Khan said the militants had planned to inflict massive damage on the BSF camp but couldn't.
Khan said the terrorists were part of a 10 member group that has recently infiltrated to India.'' Seven other Jaish men are on the loose, we are alive to the challenge,'' he said.
According to sources, 25 Jaish militants were spotted in Pooch area of Jammu last month and some of them have moved to Kashmir valley with an aim to carry out attacks.
The Jaish has been tasked to lift the morale of Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizbul Mujahideen militants who have lost 140 militants in Operation All Out by security forces since January.
On August 27, four Jasih militants had attacked the District Police Lines in Pulwama and killed eight security men—four CRPF and four policemen. The four militants were killed after a day-long operation.
The Jaish has since made two abortive attempts on security forces camps in Nowgam and Uri where three militants were killed by the Army on September 24.
