Two bravehearts including a senior officer of the Special Operations Group of Jammu & Kashmir police and a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) of the Indian Army  deployed along the line of control in Nowshera sector of Rajouri attained martyrdom while three Lashkar-e- Tayyeba (LeT) terrorists were neutralised during an overnight operation in the Pantha Chowk area of Srinagar on Sunday.

In the last three days, 10 terrorists have been neutralised in three anti-terrorist operations  in Shopian, Pulwama and Srinagar.

Four terrorists of Albadr were neutralised in Kiloora area of South Kashmir's Shopian district on Friday while three Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists were gunned down in Zadoora area of Pulwama on Saturday while three terrorists of LeT were neutralised in Srinagar.

Paying rich tributes in the memory of the martyred police officer Director General of  Jammu and Kashmir police Dilbagh Singh told reporters in Srinagar, "an Assistant Sub Inspector of Jammu and Kashmir police identified as Babu Ram, hailing from Mendhar area of Poonch, sustained bullet injuries while a joint team of Jammu and Kashmir police and para military forces chased a group of three terrorists after a failed weapon snatching bid  in the Pantha Chowk area of Srinagar late last night around 10.00 p.m".

DGP said, "one of the terrorists was neutralised by the joint teams in the initial round of firing while two others were neutralised after attempts made by their parents to convince them to surrender failed. The three slain terrorists were locals hailing from Pampore",he added.

Sharing details of the  night long operation, DGP Dilbagh Singh said, " three motor bike borne youth had opened fire on the security checkpoint in the Pantha Chowk area and also attempted weapon snatching. Alert jawans of the Jammu and Kashmir police and paramilitary forces chased them after they ran towards bylanes leaving behind their motorbike. Singh said, the police officer belonging to the Special Operations Group was leading from the front when he received bullet injuries  during the initial exchange of fire and later attained martyrdom in the line of duty".

Singh said,  ASI Babu Ram was a brave police officer and was part of the lead team of the Special Operations group engaged in anti-terrorist operations in Kashmir valley. Several senior police officers and colleagues of ASI Babu Ram also paid rich tributes to him and remembered him as a brave heart.

Meanwhile, the slain terrorists have been identified as Saqib Bashir Khanday, Umar Tariq Bhat and Zubair Ahmad Shiekh all the residents of Drangbal Pampore. They were affiliated with proscribed terror outfit LeT.

As per police records, the killed terrorists were part of groups involved in planning and executing several terror attacks in the area. Besides weapon snatching bid at J&K Bank Pampore, Saqib Bashir was also involved in motivating and radicalizing the youth of the area to join terror folds.

According to a Jammu based Defence spokesman Lt-Col Devendra Anand, "Pakistan Army resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violation on the line of control (LoC) in Nowshera Sector of Rajouri district. Own troops responded strongly to the enemy fire. In the incident, Naib Subedar Rajwinder Singh was critically injured and later succumbed to his injuries".

Naib Subedar Rajwinder Singh, hailed from Amritsar in Punjab and is survived by his wife and two children.