Search team attacked in Poonch, LeT terrorist killed

Security personnel have been carrying out a search operation for 14 days in forests of Poonch and Thanamandi in Rajouri district to eliminate hiding terrorists.

An arrested member of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was killed and three security personnel injured when terrorists opened fire on a search team of the army and police in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch on Sunday, officials familiar with the matter said.

A trooper stands guard at a market in Srinagar on Sunday. (AFP)

Police said that Zia Mustafa, an LeT terrorist from Pakistan, was taken to the Bhata Durian forest to identify the terrorist hideout. Security personnel have been carrying out a search operation for 14 days in Bhatta Durrian and the nearby forest areas of Surankote in Poonch and Thanamandi in Rajouri district to eliminate hiding terrorists. On October 14, terrorists killed a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and three soldiers in the area. A total of nine personnel have died in the ongoing operation.

“When the team approached the hideout, the terrorists opened fire, in which two policemen and an army jawan sustained injuries. Mustafa also sustained injuries and he could not be extracted from the site due to heavy firing,” the police said in an official statement.

“During the subsequent operation additional reinforcements were sent and the body of Mustafa has been retrieved from the encounter site,” a police official said, adding the operation, to neutralise the hiding terrorists, was in progress.

The operation in the forest areas in the twin border districts began on October 11 when terrorists ambushed a search party killing five soldiers including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) in Surankote forest of Poonch before another gunfight in nearby Thanamandi on the same day. Drones and helicopters have been pressed into service to assist the marching troops, which includes para-commandos, in the jungle.