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US-Made M4 Carbine Recovered From ‘Sniper’ Killing Site, Says J&K Police

Zubair Sofi |
Mostly used by NATO forces battling Taliban in Afghanistan, this American origin weapon is a shorter and lighter variant of M16A2 assault rifle.
US-Made M4 Carbine Recovered

The killing of ‘sniper expert’ Usman Ibrahim of Jaish-e-Muhammad (foreign militant outfit active in Kashmir), the nephew of Masood Azhar, in an encounter at Chankitar village in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district by government forces on Tuesday, has been termed as a “ boundless victory”.

Ibrahim’s killing comes in the backdrop of three ‘sniper’ attacks within a span of 10 days, in which three government force personnel lost their lives, according to the state police, which told reporters that this time they recovered a US-made NATO grade M-4 carbine and AK47 rifle from the encounter site.

According to an internal police report accessed by The Hindu, “the examination of cartridge cases found at three sites which have seen stand-off shoot-outs between the militants and the security forces in Pulwama and Srinagar revealed that they “were firearms fired from M4 Carbine”, a lighter variant sniper rifle with a telescoping stock.”

This is the second time, M-4 carbine has been recovered from the slain militants, the police said.

On November 7, 2017, another nephew of Masood Azhar, Talha Rasheed Masood, was among three militants killed in a gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district.  That was the first time the police said it had recovered the same US made rifle from him.

Earlier, a picture of Hizbul Mujahedeen's commander, Sameer Tiger, had gone viral on social networking website carrying the same rifle.

Mostly used by the NATO forces battling Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, this American origin rifle is a shorter and lighter variant of the M16A2 assault rifle. The gun has a 14.5 in (370 mm) barrel.

According to police officials, at least four snipers experts militant (foreign militant) of JeM entered to Kashmir in early September. Each militant has smuggled M4 rifles to the valley, claimed the police. All the four militants are functioning in two “buddy” groups with a few of local militants who help them to trace the location and carry the attack,the police added.

Officials further informed reporters that all the snipers were active in a southern part of Kashmir where militants have “huge” local support.

Meanwhile, the number of casualties during militant attacks and anti-militant operation have risen from 2016 to 2018.

As per the data provided by the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Societies, 145 civilians, 138 militants and 100 government forces were killed in 2016. In 2017, 108 civilians, 217 militants and  125 armed forces were killed.

In 2018, JKCCS documented the number of casualties with 131 civilians, 205 militants, and 130 government forces.

number%20of%20killings2.jpg

(JKCCS collects data from Newspapers and on the field research)

The data, however,  may vary from that in the South Asia Terrorism Portal

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