Security forces have killed 18 terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir over the last 21 days, said General Officer Commanding of Srinagar-based 15 Corps Lieutenant General Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon at a press conference on Monday. Dhillon said militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed’s second-in-command is among the deceased.

He was speaking at a joint press conference organised by Kashmir Inspector General SP Pani and Central Reserve Police Force Inspector General Zulfiqar Hussain on the Tral encounter. Earlier on Monday, the Jammu and Kashmir Police had said that one of the Jaish-e-Mohammad militants killed in an encounter with security forces in the state’s Tral on Sunday has been identified as a key conspirator of the recent Pulwama suicide attack. The militant involved in the attack was identified as Mudasir Ahmad Khan, a resident of Midoora Tral.

Dhillon said of the 18 terrorists killed over the last three weeks, eight are Pakistanis and 10 are local terrorists. Fourteen of the deceased are from Jaish-e-Mohammad, two from Lashkar-e-Taiba and two from the Hizbul Mujahideen, he said.

“Our main emphasis was the elimination of JeM leadership and we have been successful in doing that in the last three weeks,” Dhillon said, according to The Indian Express. “I would like to assure that the operations against JeM leadership and foreign terrorists will continue till we eliminate them.”

Forty Central Reserve Police Force jawans were killed in the attack on February 14, which was claimed by the Jaish-e-Mohammad.