At least six more houses of alleged active militants were turned into rubble through controlled blasts, while more than 100 residences of alleged militant supporters were searched, and hundreds of local people were detained in Kashmir on Saturday, against the backdrop of the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 that left 26 civilians dead. Meanwhile, there was no let-up in skirmishes on the Line of Control (LoC) for the second day.
Local people said security forces raided three villages in south Kashmir’s Kulgam, Shopian, and Pulwama and directed residents to empty the localities surrounding the houses of three alleged active militants. The houses that were destroyed belonged to Ehsan Ul Haq Sheikh, 23, a resident of Pulwama’s Murran; Zakir Ahmad Ganai, 29, a resident of Kulgam’s Matalhama village; and Shahid Ahmad Kutay, 27, a resident of Shopian’s Chotipora. The house of Lashkar-e-Taiba militant Farooq Teedwa was damaged in a blast in Kalaroos, Kupwara, in north Kashmir. The two-storey house of Adnan Shafi Dar a resident of Shopian’s Zainapora, was also destroyed. Later in the day, the house of another active terrorist, Amir Nazir, was destroyed in Daramdora, Pulwama.
Pahalgam terror attack: April 26, 2025
Eight houses
A total of eight houses, including those belonging to Pahalgam attack suspects Asif Ahmad Sheikh in Pulwama and Adil Thoker in Anantnag’s Bijbehara, have been blown up so far during searches by the security forces. Neither the police nor the Army has issued any statement on the dismantling of the houses of militants in controlled blasts in Kashmir. Police sources said these local militants had joined the ranks of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Hizbul Mujahideen.
However, their relatives and people living in these localities have questioned the move of the security forces, which has led to damage to nearby houses. The family of Ganai was shifted to a mosque as a blast turned the house into rubble during a crackdown in the night. “We were asked to empty the house. We are innocent. It should have not have happened to us,” Ganai’s father said.
He said his son went missing on September 27, 2023. “He left and never returned. We filed a missing report with the police. We never saw him thereafter. We don’t know if he is alive or not. I have two children and both are pursuing studies,” he added.
In Pulwama’s Muran, local people alleged that the intensity of the blast was so severe that most of the houses close to Sheikh’s developed cracks with the glass shattered. “All the neighbours were asked to shift to safer locations. Then the blast was carried out. It led to cracks in most surrounding houses,” a woman said on the condition of anonymity.
Shahzada Jan, mother of Thoker, said their house dismantled on Friday was built by his grandfather. Thoker went missing in 2018 and is believed to have acquired arms training in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). “My home has been turned to rubble,” Ms. Jan said.
The Jammu and Kashmir Police, which have stepped up operations against local militants and their supporters, detained 175 in Anantnag district. “In the wake of the recent Pahalgam incident and as part of intensified efforts to curb terrorism and its ecosystem, the Anantnag Police, in close collaboration with the Army, CRPF and other security forces, have launched extensive search and cordon operations across the district. Day and night search operations are under way,” a police source said.
The police said cordon-and-search operations and patrolling have been intensified, including in forest areas, in the district.
In Srinagar, the police searched the houses of 65 suspects, including residences of overground workers and terrorist associates. An unofficial estimate suggests around 1,500 local youth have been questioned or detained since the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam.
Firing by Pakistan
Tension prevailed in border areas in J&K for the second day on Saturday. According to the Army, unprovoked small arms firing was carried out by multiple Pakistan Army posts across the Line of Control in Kashmir on the night of April 25-26. Indian troops responded appropriately with small arms. No casualties were reported, the Army said.
The border skirmishes have left residents anxious. Many residents in Jammu’s R.S. Pora, which is close to the International Border, were seen cleaning up underground bunkers to move to these shelters in case of any exigency.
Published - April 26, 2025 04:48 pm IST
