2 LET MILITANTS KILLED IN PULWAMA
The gunfight began after a search operation was launched by security forces in Kawni area
:Two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants were killed and a civilian injured in an encounter between militants and security forces in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Tuesday, police officials said.
They said after getting information about presence of militants, a search operation was launched by security forces at night near Kawni area of Awantipora which led to a gun fight.
“During the search operation, the hiding terrorist fired on the search party. The fire was retaliated leading to an encounter. In the ensuing encounter, one terrorist was killed and the body was retrieved from the site of encounter,” a police spokesman.
In the evening, Kashmir police tweeted that two militants have been killed in the encounter and arms and ammunition have been recovered from the slain men.
A police official of Awantipora said the encounter took place in an orchard where one of the militants was killed in the wee hours and another in the evening.
The two slain militants have been identified as Ufaid Lone and Mohammad Abbas, both locals and members of the LeT militant outfit.
Superintendent of police Tahir Saleem said there were two militants in the area. “While Lone was killed in the orchard, another fled away and entered a house which was immediately cordoned,” Saleem said.
Abbas was killed later in the day while civilian Sabzar Ahmad Bhat was also hit near the gunfight site.
“The civilian was lying there for some 30 minutes and we retrieved him with much difficulty and took him to hospital,” said another police officer.
He has been shifted to SMHS hospital in Srinagar.
The police spokesman said Lone had a history of ‘terror crime’ records since 2018.
“Several terror crime cases, including cases pertaining to grenade attack on security forces, another grenade attack on police station Awantipora, civilian atrocities, threatening, intimidation and beating of locals at Padagampora besides enforcing shutdown of business establishments and forcible suspension of transport facilities in the area, were registered against him,” the spokesman said.
The encounter comes even as the security forces have been involved in an anti-insurgency operation in the forests and mountains of Ganderbal in central Kashmir since September 28.
At least two militants have been killed as security forces made contact with the militants on two separate occasions–– the first one on September 28 at the Khor Pathri area of Ganderbal when the first militant was killed.
Earlier, national security advisor Ajit Doval had asked security agencies to intensify anti-militancy operations after reports of increase in infiltration attempts.
Ganderbal superintendent of police, Khalil Poswal, said the ‘combing searches’ continue in the area even today as the forces have used the services of paratroopers wherever the terrain was tough.
“The combing searches are continuing even though two militants have been killed who appear to be infiltrators. We suspect two more militants in the area. At the places where the terrain is tough, the para troopers are also air dropped,” he said. On Saturday, 14 people, including two women and a traffic cop were injured in a grenade attack in Kashmir’s Anantnag district.