Authorities said four terrorists, including a foreigner, were gunned down in two encounters with security forces in south Kashmir on Tuesday.
A senior police official said that the two encounters took place in south Kashmir’s Pulwama and Anantnag districts in which four terrorists have been gunned down while search operations are underway.
The first encounter broke out between a team of J&K police, Army and other security forces in Awantipora area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Tuesday.
The official said that three terrorists were killed in the gunfight that broke out on Tuesday evening. He said that the identity of the slain was being ascertained.
“As per our source, 1 is FT & 1 local terrorist of LeT namely Mukhtiyar Bhat, involved in several terror crimes including killing of 01 ASI of CRPF & 2 RPF personnel. A big success for us,” said a police spokesman on Twitter, quoting ADGP Kashmir.
"03 terrorists killed in Awantipora encounter. Identification being ascertained. As per our source, 1 is FT & 1 local terrorist of LeT namely Mukhtiyar Bhat, involved in several terror crimes including killing of 01 ASI of CRPF & 2 RPF personnel. A big success for us: ADGP Kashmir,” police tweeted earlier.
The second encounter broke out in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district. The police official said one more terrorist was killed in the encounter with government forces in Bijbehara area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
The gunfight took place at Semthan after a joint team of police and security forces got an input about the presence of terrorists in the area. After security forces cordoned off the area, terrorists hiding there started firing, drawing retaliation by the security forces.
“01 #terrorist killed in #Bijbehara encounter. Operation going on. #Encounter in #Awantipora going on. Further details shall follow,” Kashmir Zone Police said in a tweet.
Close to 200 terrorists have been gunned down by security forces in different encounters across Jammu and Kashmir with a sizeable number of them hailing from Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir. While the number of gunned down terrorists has gone up, local recruitment has also come down.
After many years, according to officials, the number of foreign terrorists active in Jammu and Kashmir has crossed the number of local terrorists which is interpreted as a success of counter terrorism strategy.