Curfew was on Friday extended to several areas of Kashmir to foil a planned march by separatists to Eidgah in old city area as normal life continued to remain paralysed for the 49th consecutive day in the Valley in the wake of violence following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani last month.
Security agencies made a quick estimate of passports issued between 2015 and 2019, and found that out of the 40 youth who had gone to Bangladesh or Pakistan for studies, 28 had infiltrated back into the country as trained terrorists, the officials said.
As many as 160 terrorists were killed and 102 arrested in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.
Six policemen, including a sub-inspector, were killed at Achabal in Anantnag district of South Kashmir after terrorists ambushed a police party on Friday.
Snowfall brought cheer to many Kashmiris.
Apprehending law and order problem in Anantnag where a youth was allegedly killed in firing by security forces on August 30, curfew remained in force in the town, official sources said.
The NIA investigators, with the support of forensic and automobile experts, have been able to identify the vehicle used in the blast.
Burhan Wani, the top Hizbul Mujaheedin commander was the poster boy of the outfit and was active in south Kashmir.
In a statement, the ministry of home affairs said the UT of Ladakh consists of two districts of Kargil and Leh while the rest of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir is in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.
Curfew continued in Srinagar city for the second day on Wednesday while it was extended to two towns in Anantnag district following violent clashes between protestors and security forces in these areas.
Weapons and war-like stores were recovered from the encounter site.
One person was killed and 14 others were injured on Saturday as security forces opened fire on stone-pelting protestors who had taken out a funeral procession, defying the curfew in Anantnag town of south Kashmir. With this, the toll in the ongoing unrest in the Kashmir valley, since June 11, rose to 97. Thousands of residents of Nathpora in Khanabal and adjoining areas in Anantnag defied curfew.
Earlier in 2010, the highest number of 156 terrorists were killed between January and July that year.
Curfew was on Friday lifted from Anantnag after four days even as life returned to normal in the Kashmir Valley after hardline Hurriyat Conference suspended protests for the day, the last Friday of Ramzan.
In Srinagar, wearing black bands, scores of PDP leaders and activists, led by party president Mehbooba Mufti, took out a protest march from the party's head office near the Sher-e-Kashmir Park.
The PDP elected the 56 year old unanimously to succeed her father.
Within hours of the incident, police arrested the accused and said he was tasked by terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen to carry out the attack.
The CM apprised the home minister about the steps taken to maintain peace in the Kashmir Valley
Ahead of the Parliament session, beginning Monday, the government is apparently aiming to build a consensus to deal with its biggest neighbour as well on Kashmir issue.
Shops and business establishments which had remained closed for 79-days due to separatist call for shut down opened on Sunday after 2 pm.
Saifullah, who had taken command of the outfit after the killing of Riyaz Naikoo in May this year, was one of the most wanted terrorists in the Kashmir Valley and involved in several attacks on the security forces, an official said.
Kashmir remained cut off from rest of the country for the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday as the arterial Jammu-Srinagar national highway and the Mughal road remained closed, while air traffic was suspended due to heavy snowfall across the valley.
'It was a helpless situation for me and my family. We were staying on the first floor as the ground floor was filled with flood water,' says Parveez Rasool, the only cricketer from Jammu and Kashmir to have played for India.
Curfew remained in force in Srinagar district, Anantnag town and Magam area of Budgam district as a precautionary measure even as normal life was paralysed for the 40th consecutive day on Wednesday in Kashmir where 63 persons have been killed in the ongoing unrest.
Two of the three youths killed in an encounter with security forces in the Parimpora area of Srinagar were 'radically inclined' and working as overground workers of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba (LeT) terror outfit, police said on Friday and added that the case was being investigated.
The two met during a training in Mussorie and it was love at first sight.
The incident took place in Gooriwan where the police team was on routine law and order duty for the procession marking the birthday of Prophet Mohammad, police said.
From Kutch to Itanagar, Kashmir to Kanyakumari, there is only one emotion, it seems. Fear. Of coronavirus.
Among those abducted included brother of a deputy superintendent of police.
Protests, an uneasy calm and a sense of deep grief enveloped south Kashmir's Anantnag on Monday, a day after Zahid Rasool Bhat, a 19-year-old trucker, succumbed to his injuries after the truck, which he was travelling in was attacked over beef rumours.
Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Khiram in Srigufwara area of the south Kashmir district this morning after receiving specific intelligence input about the presence of militants in the area, a police official said.
The security forces had then described the arrest of Gazi as a major success in their anti-insurgency operations in the state. He was presented in the district court at Anantnag on Thursday where his detention under the Public Safety Act was set aside by the court. The judge released Gazi and he was handed over to his lawyer.
The prosecution complaint, ED's equivalent to chargesheet, has urged the court for confiscating attached assets totalling to Rs 1.22 crore in the case, besides other punishment under Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Mohammad Iqbal Rather, 25, a resident of Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam, had allegedly facilitated the movement of Muhammad Umar Farooq -- a member of the Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed and the key conspirator in the case -- after he infiltrated into the Indian territory in the Jammu region in April 2018, a spokesperson of the NIA said.
Poonch district of Jammu region recorded the highest turnout at 75.42 per cent. Ganderbal district recorded the highest polling in Kashmir valley at 56.28 per cent.
Reasi district of Jammu region recorded 75.20 per cent voting, the highest in the union territory, State Election Commissioner (SEC) K K Sharma said, adding that 50.53 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the third phase of the maiden DDC polls in J-K.
Political leaders and other prominent personalities condemned the attack on Amarnath Yatris in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district on Monday after terrorists open fired at the bus carrying the pilgrims killing seven and injuring 32 others.
What happened in India in the week gone by? Here's the top stories that captured India's attention in the week gone by.
Two militants were killed on Tuesday in an encounter with security forces on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, about 12 kms from Srinagar, in Pampore, police said.
