Five terrorists were killed in the ongoing encounter with security forces in the Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Friday. The operation is in its final stage, the police said, adding the identity of the slain terrorist is being ascertained.
South Kashmir DIG Rayees, speaking to press said, “Contact was established with the terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Taiba who were hiding in some residential houses of the village. In the encounter, 5 terrorists of the proscribed terror outfit, Lashkar-e-Taiba, were neutralised. The five terrorists have been identified as Sameer Ahmed Sheikh of Shopia, Danish Thokar of Shopia, Ubaid Patr of Shopia, Hanzara Shah of Shopia and Yasif Bhatt of Kulgam.”
He added that during the operation four AK series rifles, two pistols, four grenades and other arms and ammunition were recovered.
“This operation has come after a lot of synergised effort of all the security forces that operate in the area and it is a big success because these terrorists have been in a number of attacks on minorities.”
{{/usCountry}}“This operation has come after a lot of synergised effort of all the security forces that operate in the area and it is a big success because these terrorists have been in a number of attacks on minorities.”
{{/usCountry}}"Day 2: Five terrorists neutralized by Kulgam Police, Army, and CRPF. Incriminating materials were recovered. Operation in the final stage; area being sanitized," the Kashmir Zone Police wrote in a post on X.
Rayees identified the attacks — last year in Shopia Kashmiri Pandit Sonu Bhatt was attacked, minority picket in Herpora Batagund in Shopia was attacked, Earlier this year, non-local labourers were attacked in Shopia — in which the five militants were involved.
The encounter broke out on Thursday afternoon at the Samno pocket of the DH Pora area of Kulgam district, according to Jammu and Kashmir Police.
The police, earlier, confirmed that the exchange of heavy fire between the security forces and the terrorists from across the border was still ongoing.
The joint operation against the terrorists involves the Army's 34 Rashtriya Riffles, 9 Para (elite special forces unit), police, and the CRPF. The village was further surrounded during the night and lights were installed near the encounter site.
While the security forces maintained a tight cordon around the area where the terrorists were trapped, the operation was suspended overnight, officials said.
Gunshots were exchanged early Friday after a night-long lull at Samno in Nehama area of Kulgam, the officials told news agency PTI.
The house where the terrorists were hiding caught fire in the exchange of fire this morning, forcing the militants to come out.
This is a major anti-insurgency operation in South Kashmir since the September 13 operation in the Garol forests of Anantnag in which four security forces personnel and two terrorists were killed in a week-long operation.
Earlier, an infiltration bid was thwarted along the Line of Control in the Uri Sector on November 15, Wednesday, the army said.
The army and Jammu and Kashmir Police neutralised the infiltrators during a joint operation named 'Operation Kali'.
This was the second infiltration bid in the same region.
The Army said of the two infiltrators killed was Bashir Ahmed Malik, an important cog in the Pakistan-enabled cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.