LeT militant, SPO killed in Baramulla encounter; first since revocation of article 370

Srinagar: A Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) militant and a policeman were on Wednesday killed while a sub-inspector was injured in an encounter with ultras in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

The encounter, which began on Tuesday, has ended with the killing of a militant and a special police officer (SPO) of Jammu and Kashmir Police, a police official said.

He said the encounter is the first anti-militancy operation in Kashmir since August 5 when the Centre abrogated provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcated the state into two union territories - Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

The official said the slain militant has been identified as Momin Gojri, a resident of Baramulla. Gojri was affiliated with the LeT outfit and was involved in several terror crime cases, the official said, adding arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of the gunfight.

He said the slain SPO has been identified as Billal Ahmad.

Sub-inspector Amardeep Parihar was also injured in the exchange of fire and has been admitted to the Army's 92 base hospital at Badami Bagh cantonment here.