Srinagar: Five terrorists were killed in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmir’s Shopian district on Wednesday.
Confirming the development, Kashmir Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar said that the encounter began at Sugoo village on Wednesday morning after security forces came under heavy fire from hiding terrorists.
According to a senior police official, the security forces on receiving credible inputs about presence of some terrorists in an apple orchard in Sugoo village, cordoned off the area.
He said that as the security forces zeroed in, the hiding terrorists fired at them and in the ensuring gun battle, five terrorists belonged to Hizbul Mujahideen and the Lashkar-e-Toiba were killed.
The police official said that the apple orchard where the terrorists were hiding was an old hideout of the terrorist groups operating in the Kashmir valley. “A huge quantity of arms and ammunition has been recovered from the hideout,” said the police official.
He said that the operation in the area continues as possibilities of some more terrorists hiding in the huge apple orchard could not be ruled out.
The affiliation of the neutralised terrorists has been confirmed and now their identities were also been established.
It may be mentioned here that this is is the third major encounter in Shopian district in less than a week.