JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat on Wednesday said the terrorist eliminated in an encounter in Dudu-Basantgarh forest in Udhampur district was a top most commander of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit who was active in the area for the last four years.

Asserting that the security forces are continuing their operations to neutralise terrorists, he highlighted the good relations between police and public and said the police cannot be successful without the support of the people.

"The anti-terror operations are taking place continuously, and recently, we got a very big success in Dudu-Basantgarh, where a senior and top JeM commander, who was active in that area for the last four years, was killed. The operations are taking place and all the terrorists will be eliminated one by one," the police chief told reporters at the Akhnoor police station near here.

On June 26, JeM terrorist Haider, code-named Maulvi, from Pakistan, was killed in a gunfight while three of his associates managed to escape, taking advantage of inclement weather, challenging topography and dense forest in the Basantgarh area.

However, the DGP declined to give the exact number of terrorists active in the forest areas of the Jammu region and said "that number cannot be given in the public domain".

The DGP, along with Inspector General of CRPF Gopal Sharma; Inspector General of Police, Jammu Zone, Bhim Sen Tuti; and Deputy Inspector General of police, Jammu-Samba-Kathua range, Shiv Kumar, visited Akhnoor police station to felicitate the personnel for receiving the prestigious ‘Award of Excellence' from the Ministry of Home Affairs in the annual ranking of police stations in J&K for 2024.

Handing over the award to the police station, the DGP hailed the officers and men posted at the police station for their rapport with the public and said the successful operation in the Akhnoor sector early this year was the result of timely input received from the public.

"Police cannot be successful without the support of the public. The public support makes all difficult tasks easy, otherwise there will be challenges," he said, lauding the Jammu police for their outstanding performance against the drug menace, bovine smuggling and gangsters.

He also lauded the exceptional performance of the then station house officer (SHO) Tariq Ahmed, Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Mohan Sharma and Superintendent of Police Brijesh Sharma for their outstanding leadership and dedication in 2024.

He extended his best wishes to incumbent SHO Sanjeev Chib and SDPO Varinder Gupta for continuing the legacy of excellence.