Terrorist killed in encounter with security forces in J&K’s Pulwama

The operation is still underway in Sharsali village in Awantipora area of the district, where the terrorists was gunned down, police said.

A terrorists was killed in a gun battle with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district, officials said on Wednesday morning, even as a search operation was being conducted to nab Hizb-ul-Mujahideen’s commander Riyaz Naikoo.

One of the search operations is currently being conducted in Beighpora Gulzapora, the native village of Hizbul’s operational chief Riyaz Naikoo, who is the senior most active commander in the valley.(Reuters file photo)

The operation is still underway in Sharsali village in Awantipora area of the district, where the terrorists was gunned down, police said.

Two operations are underway in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district from late Tuesday night. They were launched by the security forces after they got a tipoff about the presence of terrorists in the area.

One of the search operations is currently being conducted in Beighpora Gulzapora, the native village of Hizbul’s operational chief Riyaz Naikoo, who is the senior most active commander in the valley.

Sources said that the operation has been launched to track him down. However, it’s not clear whether Naikoo is trapped in the cordon.

A senior police officer confirmed that a couple of operations are on in Pulwama. Currently, the forces are conducting house-to-house searches, the officer said.

On Tuesday night, the Indian Army and Jammu and Kashmir police moved some earth digging equipment in the village.

The last two months have seen a series of operations in Kashmir. In the past three days, eight security force personnel, including the commanding officer of the army’s 21 Rashtriya Rifles, were killed in two separate encounters in Handwara.