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Army jawan, five LeT terrorists killed during Pulwama gunfight
Srinagar: Five Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists and an Army jawan were killed during an overnight encounter in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, police said on Friday
Srinagar: Five Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists and an Army jawan were killed during an overnight encounter in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, police said on Friday.
The police have identified one of the slain terrorists as Nishaz Lone, alias Khitab, who was the district commander of the LeT in south Kashmir, while another as a Pakistani national.
“For us, it is a big success,” said inspector general of police (Kashmir), Vijay Kumar, adding that police are trying to identify the other three terrorists killed in the operation.
According to a police official familiar with the matter, a team of the police, 44 Rashtriya Rifles and the CRPF launched a joint cordon-and-search operation in Pulwama’s Rajpora area on Thursday night, following information about the presence of terrorists. The operation soon turned into an encounter when the terrorists opened fire on the security personnel, killing one soldier and injuring another, the official added. After hours of gunfight, five terrorists were killed, said the official.
The slain soldier has been identified asHavildar Kashi Rao of the 44 Rashtriya Rifles. A resident of Vijaypura district in Karnataka, Rao succumbed to his gunshot injuries in the chest early on Friday, the official added.
The injured soldier is currently undergoing treatment.
Soon after the encounter, internet services were suspended in Pulwama.
This is the third encounter in Kashmir in the last four days.
On June 30, three local terrorists were killed, while two soldiers sustained injuries during an encounter in Chimmer village in Kulgam district. On June 29, a Pakistani terrorist and LeT commander Nadeem Abrar Bhat were also killed in an encounter at Maloora, a day after he was arrested.The LeT commander, police said, was arrested from a checkpost in Parimpora in connection with the attack on a CRPF patrol party at Lawaypora in March this year, in which three jawans were killed. Police said Bhat was killed when he was taken to a house in Maloora by security forces to recover an AK-47 rifle.
