3 terrorists gunned down in Anantnag

Apple trader and a labourer shot dead

SRINAGAR: Security forces killed three local militants, who had joined terror groups recently, in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district, even as one migrant labourer from Chhattisgarh was shot dead by terrorists in militant-infested Pulwama district of South Kashmir, officials said on Wednesday.

The encounter broke out at Pazalpora area in Anantnag on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday on a specific intelligence provided by the district police.

All the three militants have been neutralised, the officials said.

A police team, along with other security forces, laid a cordon and search in the area. It had a pinpointed information where the three militants were holed up, officials said.

It approached a house whose owner resisted saying that no one was present at their premises, but not agreeing to the landlord; the team carried on with their operation, they said.

The holed up militants first fired at around 02.30 am after which the police retaliated effectively.

In the encounter, the entire house came down due to the gunfight, they said.

In other developments, an apple trader from Punjab and a migrant labourer from Chhattisgarh were shot dead on Wednesday by terrorists. The third such incident within three days, police said.

Normal life continued to be affected in Kashmir for the 73rd consecutive day on Wednesday as the main market continued to be shut and most of the public transport stayed off the roads, officials said.

Private transport was seen plying unhindered in the city and elsewhere in the valley, they said.

Auto-rickshaws and a few interdistrict cabs were also seen plying in few areas of Kashmir, but the other modes of public transport remained off the roads.

The primary market and other business establishments remained shut. In some areas, including the commercial hub of Lal Chowk, shops opened for a few hours early in the morning, they said.