ANANTNAG: 3 MILITANTS KILLED
GUNFIGHT The trio was involved in planning and executing several terror attacks on security establishments, says official
SRINAGAR: Three local Lashkar-e Taiba militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Wednesday.
Police officials said the forces launched a cordon-and-search operation in wee hours at Pazpora Bijhbehara in Anantnag after inputs about presence of militants.
› During the operation, the hiding terrorists fired on the search party. The forces retaliated, leading to an encounter in which three terrorists were killed. Their bodies have been retrieved. Police spokesman
SRINAGAR: Three local Lashkar-e Taiba militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Wednesday.
Police officials said the forces launched a cordon-and-search operation in wee hours at Pazpora Bijhbehara in Anantnag after inputs about presence of militants.
“During the operation, the hiding terrorists fired on the search party. The forces retaliated, leading to an encounter in which three terrorists were killed. Their bodies have been retrieved,” said a police spokesman.
The slain militants have been identified as Nasir Gulzar and Zahid Hussain Lone, both residents of Bijbehara, and Aqib Hajam of Redwani, Kulgam. All three were affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba, the spokesman added.
Kashmir police tweeted that the three have been involved in “terror crimes” as per their records.
“Arms and ammunition were recovered (from the encounter site),” they said.
“While Gulzar was involved in an attack on a police guard in September 2018, Hajam played a key role in planning and executing series of terror attacks on security establishments in the recent past. Similarly, Lone was part of groups responsible for terror attacks in the area,” police said.
Soon after the gunfight ended, hundreds of villagers attempted to converge near the site. Locals said that there were sporadic incidents of stone pelting in the areas near the encounter site during the day.
On Saturday, eight persons, including a woman, were injured in a grenade attack by suspected militants in a market place in Srinagar, officials said.
Since the central government revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, nine militants have been killed five operations by security forces.
Officials say that communication technology plays a role in tracking militants and getting information about their locations.
Though curbs have been eased in Kashmir, the pre-paid mobile and internet services in the Valley are still blocked.