SRINAGAR: Four suspected Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists were killed in an encounter at the Laam forest area of Tral in south Kashmir’s
Pulwama district on Tuesday. A soldier and a policeman also lost their lives in the gunfight.
Apart from the militants, two soldiers and a special operations group (SOG) personal identified as
Latif Gojri received serious bullet injuries in the encounter that ensued after a joint team of the army’s 42 Rashtriya Rifles, the state police’s SOG and the
CRPF intercepted the group of terrorists at the forest area, where they had fled after a brief exchange of gunfire that lasted for several hours. Security forces had launched a cordon-and-search operation to weed out the terrorists. Latif later succumbed to his injuries.
Ajay Kumar of 42 RR succumbed to injuries at the 92 Base Hospital here in Srinagar. Two soldiers are being treated in hospital
The bodies of the militants were recovered along with four AK-rifles, a senior police officer told TOI. “Apparently it looks like the slain militants are foreigners and belonged to Jaish-e-Mohammad militant outfit,” he said, adding that the search operation in the area was still on. Government forces were pressed choppers into service to track down the militants. “The militants could engage the forces due to dense forest cover,” he added.
“Two among the slain are foreigners, while two according to sources are locals,” he said. Sources identified the two local militants as
Ishfaq Ahmed of Handura Tral and Abid Ahmed of Khangund Tral.