(KUNA) -- Police in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir Tuesday said Pakistan-based outfit Hizbul-Mujahideen (HM) was the worst sufferer among the insurgent groups in Kashmir in 2007 with the killing of 34 top commanders and 307 cadres in encounters. | Hizbul Mujahideen received a severe setback in 2007 having lost 34 top commanders and 307 cadres in the encounters with Indian security forces. |
Other insurgent groups whose "commanders" were killed in 2007 included Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM),
Al-Badr, Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (HuJI), Tahreek-ul-Mujahideen (TuM), Al-Umar, Jamail-ul-Mujahideen (JuM), JK Freedom Force (JKFF), Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), Hizb-e-Islami (HeI) and Al-Barq. As many as 77 top commanders have been killed by security forces till November 2007, which includes 17 commanders of LeT, 13 of JeM, 10 of HuJI and three of Al-Badr. "This year HM lost one operation chief commander, four divisional commanders, seven district commanders, nine tehsil commanders, 12 area commanders and company commander," the officer said.
Among the insurgent leaders killed in 2007 include Bilal Afghani, chief commander of Al-Badr on December 3 in Budgham followed by Qari Umar (deputy chief of HuJI for Jammu and Kashmir), Abu Hamza (chief operation commander of JuM), Qasim Bhatti (chief operation commander of LeT), Iajaz Ahmed Chopan (chief operation commander of HM), Aby Tallah (operation commander of LeT's Jammu region), Mohammad Younis (commander-in-chief, HMPPR) and Mohd Khalid-ur-Rehman (LeT's India operations head), the officer said.During the past two years, 182 rebel commanders were killed in Jammu and Kashmir and of these 75 commanders were of HM, 49 of LeT, 18 of JeM, 11 of Al-Badr and 20 of HuJI, the officer said. In 2006, out of 105 commanders killed, HM lost 41, LeT 32, HuJI 10, JeM five and Al-Badr four. In 2005, HM lost 31 top commanders, followed by 12 of LeT, nine of Al-Badr, seven of JeM, two commanders each of HuM and HuJI, besides one each of TuM, JuM, HeI and Al-Barq, the officer informed. In 2004, HM had lost three chief operation commanders -- Gazi Shahab-uddin, Gazi Naseer-uddin, Saif-ul-Islam, besides deputy chiefs -- Abbas Malik and Shakeel Ansari, the news agency said.