13 terrorists neutralised in 9 encounters since civilian killings: Army

The army has launched a search operation in a forest area between the mountainous border districts of Rajouri and Poonch.

At least 13 terrorists have been killed in as many as nine encounters between security forces and the militants in Jammu & Kashmir, inspector general of police Vijay Kumar said on Saturday.

Security officials said infiltration attempts usually increase in October right before the onset of winter and closure of routes due to heavy snowfall.  (File photo)

“We have neutralised three out of five terrorists of Srinagar city within less than 24 hours,” Vijay Kumar was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

On Friday, two soldiers from Uttarakhand were killed in an encounter with terrorists in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir while a junior commissioned officer was missing, taking the number of Army personnel killed in the counterterrorism operations in the area to seven this week.

The development comes a week after unidentified men entered a school in Srinagar's historical old town Eidgah on October 7 morning and gunned down its principal and another teacher.

Two days before the incident, terrorists belonging to an outfit affiliated to Lashkar-e-Taiba killed three people, including a prominent pharmacist, in three separate incidents.

The Indian Army launched a massive search operation in Uri last month, after it detected suspicious movement along the Line of Control on the intervening night of September 18 and 19. Three terrorists were killed during their infiltration bid.