Srinagar: Following a night-long operation, the security forces succeeded in killing three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists in Pulwama district of South Kashmir on early Thursday morning.
According to a senior police official, the fierce encounter with the terrorists lasted for over eight hours and barring bullet injury to an Army major, no other security personnel suffered an injury or casualty.
The police official said that on receiving specific inputs about presence of some terrorists in New Colony area of Kakapora in Pulwama district, the security forces comprising the 50 Rashtriya Rifles, special operation group of the state police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) swung into action and cordoned off the area where the terrorists were holed up.
He said that as the security forces tightened the cordon, the hiding terrorists resorted to heavy firing using automatic weapons, triggering a fierce gunfight in which an Army major was injured when a bullet hit is hand. The injured army officer was immediately shifted to the Army’s base hospital where his condition is stated to be stable.
With calls from mosques made to locals using public address system to hit the streets for helping the terrorists escape, two additional battalion of Army was rushed in to thwart an such attempt, said the police official.
“Finally the security forces succeeded in neutralising three LeT terrorists hiding in the area early in the morning,” said the police official adding that three weapons and large quantity of ammunition was recovered from the encounter site.
The identity of the three slain terrorists was being established.
He further said that though the encounter has ended, searches and combing operation in the area was still on.