Srinagar: At least three terrorists were killed by security forces in two different encounters at Anantnag and Budgam districts in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday.
Meanwhile, a civilian also died in a firing incident that took place in Srinagar.
Police and security forces launched a search operation at Gazi Gund Dooru village in Anantnag. During the searches, the encounter started off between security forces and terrorists. In the ensuing encounter, a local terrorist identified as Asif Malik, who was operating as commander of a proscribed terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was killed.
The terrorist was involved in several attacks on security forces including the killings of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) men at Achabal this year and in many other cases of civilian atrocities. A jawan identified as Happy Singh of 19 RR (Rashtriya Rifles) was killed in the encounter. Incriminating material including arms and ammunition was recovered from the site.
In the second encounter at Panzan village in Budgam, security forces killed two terrorists identified as Sheeraz Ahmad Bhat and Irfan Ahmad Dar, who were affiliated with proscribed terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen. Dar was working as a Special Police Officer (SPO) and had deserted a couple of months ago.
A joint operation was launched on the input of a few terrorists hiding in Panzan on the intervening night of September 26-27, on being surrounded; the terrorists escaped and took shelter inside a place of worship.
Keeping in mind the sanctity of the place and religious sentiments of the people, the troops cordoned off the area and all opportunities were given to the terrorists to not vilify the place of worship and surrender. However, the terrorists chose to engage the troops and brought down a heavy volume of fire from the inside.
Maximum restraint was displayed by troops and initially, they did not retaliate. Later, the troops resorted to controlled fire. During the ensuing gunfight, the security forces risked their lives to ensure that no damage was caused to the structure and the two terrorists were killed in the operation.
In another incident at Noor Bagh in Srinagar, security forces, acting on a credible input, cordoned a cluster of houses where the hidden terrorists fired indiscriminately resulting in the death of an individual. The police has initiated investigations in all the above cases.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]