J&K: Security personnel gun down 2 terrorists in Baramulla

Srinagar: Two gunmen, suspected to be Lashkar-e-Taiba or Hizbul-Mujahideen cadres, were killed in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Sopore area on Monday.

“The terrorists, who were killed, and those are trapped are either Lashkat-e-Taiba or Hizbul-Mujahideen cadres,” a senior police officer said.

The fighting, which began at dawn on Monday, was still underway, officials said.

“We have shot dead two terrorists so far. More may be trapped in the area as the firing continues,” said the police.

Police said the encounter took place when terrorists opened fire on the security forces while they were conducting an operation to flush out terrorists from a village on the outskirts of Sopore based on specific information about their presence in the area.

The terrorists were hiding in Chak-e-Brat village of Shankar Gund Brat belt, just outside Sopore town and about 52-km from summer capital Srinagar.

“They were hiding in the house of one Peerzada Bashir Ahmed Shah. Initial information available with us was that they are Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists,” the police officer said on the condition of anonymity.

The Army’s 22 Rashtriya Rifles, and members of J&K police’s counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) and the CRPF had jointly launched the operation.

The house was engulfed in flames as per the latest reports. The police said that the bodies of two terrorists have been recovered and three weapons were also seized from the site of encounter.

Mobile internet services in the area were earlier suspended. The authorities have also ordered the closure of or suspension of class in educational institutions in Baramulla and Bandipore districts “as a precautionary measure.”