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5 LeT terrorists gunned down in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam
On October 26, forces had neutralised five LeT terrorists along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara.
At least five Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists were killed on Friday in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district, officials said. An encounter had broken out between security forces and terrorists on Thursday, and the terrorists were neutralised on the second day of the operation.
Read here: Kulgam encounter: Five terrorists killed in Kashmir; carried out multiple attacks in past
They added that all the slain men were locals, identified as Sameer Ahmad Sheikh, Danish Hameed Thokar, Ubaid Padder and Hanzla Shah of Shopian district and Yasir Bhat of Kulgam.
A police spokesperson said that Sameer and Danish Hameed were involved in attack on a Kashmiri Pandit Sonu Bhat of Chotigam, Shopian.
“Terrorist Danish Hameed along with terrorist Hanzla Shah were also involved in terror attack on migrant labourers at Gagren, Shopian on July 13, in which three migrant labourers were injured. Sameer Sheikh was involved in instigating and luring local youth to join terrorist ranks and was involved in attacks on minorities at Heepora Batagund, Shopian,” the spokesperson said.
Police said a huge cache of arms and ammunition, including four AK series rifles, two pistols and four grenades was recovered in the operation.
The encounter had started following a cordon and search operation by police, army and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on specific information about presence of terrorists at Samno village of DH Pora area in Kulgam on Thursday afternoon.
The officials said that the cordon was kept intact and lights were installed during the night to stop the terrorists from escaping the area. The movement of locals was also regulated, they added.
Early morning on Friday, the firing resumed and the five LeT terrorists were killed just before noon. Army’s Chinar Corps had shared the update on micro-blogging platform “X”.
According to the locals, at least two houses were destroyed in the gunfight.
South Kashmir deputy inspector general (DIG) of Police Rayees Mohammad Bhat said that the five slain LeT terrorists were hiding in residential houses of the village.
“This operation has come after a lot of combined efforts of all security forces operating in the area and is a big success,” he said.
Read here: Two Hizbul terrorists killed in encounter in Kulgam
Bhat ADDED that the slain terrorists were involved in multiple attacks on minorities, including the attack in Shopian last year in April on Kashmiri Pandit Sonu Bhat.
“Besides, there was an attack on a minority picket at Heepora Batgund in Shopian. There was an attack on the cordon party of security forces at Watoo Keegam and an attack on migrant labourers at Gagran Shopian and an at Chotigam.” he said.
On October 26, forces had neutralised five LeT terrorists along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara.
