Homes of 10 suspected militants demolished in Jammu and Kashmir after Pahalgam terror attack
In addition, more than 2,000 persons have been detained by the police across the Union Territory, The Indian Express reported.
On Thursday, the authorities razed homes belonging to Adil Thoker from Anantnag and Asif Sheikh from Tral, both suspected members of the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Other suspected militants whose homes were targeted have been identified as Lashkar-e-Taiba members Zakir Ahmad Ganai, Amir Ahmad Dar, Shahid Ahmad Kuttey and Ahsan ul Haq Amir, Jaish-e-Mohammed's Amir Nazeer Wani, Jameel Ahmad Sher Gojri, and The Resistance Front's Adnan Safi Dar and Farooq Ahmad Tedwa.
No statements have been issued either by the Army or the police about the demolitions. However, unidentified police officers told The Hindu that the suspected militants had joined the Lashkar-e-Taiba and another militant group Hizbul Mujahideen.
The demolitions began two days after 26 persons were killed and 17 others were injured in the terror attack on April 22. The attack took place in the Baisaran area of Anantnag district. Militants fired at tourists, most of whom were from outside the state.
The terrorists targeted tourists after asking their names to ascertain their religion, the police said. All but three of those who died were Hindu.
This was the first major terrorist attack targeting civilians in Kashmir since the Union government revoked Jammu and Kashmir's special status in 2019.
Following the attack, security forces have been conducting search operations around Pahalgam and the police intensified their crackdown on suspected militant supporters across the Union Territory, according to The Indian Express.
In Srinagar district, police raided the homes of about 63 alleged militant supporters, including a woman, to 'dismantle the terror ecosystem', The Indian Express reported.
'This decisive action of J&K police aims to dismantle the terrorist ecosystem by identifying and taking legal action against individuals engaged in such anti-national and criminal activities,' the newspaper quoted an unidentified police officer as saying.
The searches were carried out to seize weapons, documents and electronic devices to collect evidence and gather intelligence gathering to detect and deter any conspiratorial or terrorist activity, the officer added.
In Anantnag district, 175 suspected militants and their supporters were detained.
'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 [Central Reserve Police Force] and other security forces, have launched extensive search and cordon operations across the district,' The Hindu quoted an unidentified police officer as saying. 'Day and night search operations are underway.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that the punishment meted out by India for the attack in Pahalgam will be ' bigger than what the terrorists imagine '.
Modi vowed that India would ' identify, trace and punish every terrorist and their backers' involved in the attack and 'pursue them to the ends of the Earth'.
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