Before Jaish commander was killed, police had to save civilians he was holding hostage

According to the police, he opened fire, but police personnel managed to snatch the weapon from him and shot him dead. The M4 rifle he was using has been seized.

Usman had been active in the area since 2024 and was involved in six incidents of violence, including the killing of security forces and police personnel, the police said.

Contact with him was first established on January 7 in Kamad Nullah near Billawar, but he managed to escape into the dense forests.

The police and security forces teams continued looking for him in the forests and busted three hideouts used by him from time to time, the police chief said. Of them, two were natural caves, and one was man-made.

Meanwhile, security forces and police continued searches in the forests on the upper reaches of Chhatru in Kishtwar, where one Havildar was killed and seven Army personnel injured in an encounter with terrorists last week.

The victims were part of a search party that had launched Operation Trashi-1 at an altitude of nearly 12,000 ft following information about the presence of terrorists there.

The search parties later busted an underground hideout used by terrorists, which was big enough to accommodate four people at a time, and seized a huge quantity of ration stores, including basmati rice and atta bags, besides various kinds of spices, Maggi, biscuits and dry fruit packets.