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Soldiers stand guard near the encounter site in Pampore. (Waseem Andrabi/HT)
Three militants killed as Pampore encounter ends, LeT hand suspected
Army officials say one reason why the casualties have risen is that terrorists have refined their tactics and are striking targets where they can cause a high number of casualties, hold out for a long time against the security forces and create media hype.
“We can easily blow up a building and kill the terrorists but what about the collateral damage? So we have to strike a delicate balance and are willing to suffer casualties to save civilians,” Lieutenant General BS Jaswal, a former northern army commander, said.
The generally acceptable ratio of casualties between the army and terrorists is 1:10, though it can vary in cases of urban conflict. In a three-day operation at Pampore three army personnel and two CRPF jawans died while three terrorists were killed. In the Pathankot attack last month, seven security personnel, including Lt Col Niranjan Kumar of the National Security Guard, died while five terrorists were killed.
Officers said protecting civilians was the top priority in Pampore. “There were a lot of civilians in the building when the terrorists entered it. Our main focus was to evacuate them to safety. We launched a joint operation and used bullet-proof vehicles to evacuate 120 civilians from the building,” Major General Arvind Dutta, GoC, Victor Force, said after the operation.
A report in local daily Greater Kashmir said on Sunday that employees who were in the building, wishing not to be named, said the terrorists allowed them to leave.
Last year, 37 security personnel died in terrorist violence in Kashmir.
Changed tactics behind higher army casualties in encounters | analysis | Hindustan Times