The gunfight which erupted between the joint team of security forces and a group of 'unidentified' terrorists  on the outskirts of Srinagar near Lawaypora late Tuesday evening ended with the elimination of all three terrorists at the end of the 15 hour long operation on Wednesday.

However, within hours after the operation was over some families from South Kashmir  staged demonstrations in front of PCR, Srinagar and claimed them to be their wards.

Jammu and Kashmir police identified those killed in the operation as  Ajaz Maqbool Ganie, Ather Mushtaq both residents of Pulwama and Zubair Lone resident of Shopian. 

Police also recovered One AK 47 rifle & two pistols & ammunition and other incriminating material along with some documents from the encounter site.

Interestingly, a police spokesman claimed, “the terrorists killed in today's encounter were not mentioned in our list of terrorists “.  Accordng to police records, two of them were hardcore associates of terrorists (OGWs). Police spokesman claimed, one of the two is a relative of top HM commander Rayees Kachroo who was killed in 2017. Reportedly, a third

might have joined very recently.   Police spokesman further added, “generally parents don’t have an idea about the activities of their wards. Several OGWs after committing terror crimes like grenade throwing & pistol shooting etc stay normally with their family”. For instance, one student from Pulwama who was taking coaching in Srinagar was caught for lobbying a grenade with the help of CCTV’s footage. His parents were totally unaware about his terrorist activities.

Police is investigating the case and after thorough investigation will come to the conclusion soon on merits. 

The police spokesman said the families have been sent to Ganderbal for further identification and participation in last rites in the presence of a Magistrate.

In this connection a case under relevant sections of law has been registered and investigation has been initiated. Police spokesman also claimed in the past a few terror incidents have occurred in this area recently and reportedly these terrorists have also come from South Kashmir to target a convoy of security forces.

Earlier, briefing media persons in the premises of 2RR headquarters in Srinagar, General officer Commanding (GoC) Kilo Force H S Sahi Wednesday said the killed terrorists were planning a big strike on the National highway to gain publicity. The army officer while sharing details of the 15 hour long operation said “We were receiving intelligence inputs on a regular basis about the movement of terrorists on the Srinagar-Baramulla highway”. He said, on the receipt of an intelligence input late Tuesday evening,  a  joint cordon and search operation was launched in Lawaypora area near HMT, Srinagar”. 

He said that when the presence of  terrorists, present in a particular house, was confirmed we made appeals to the hiding terrorists to lay down their arms.  Instead of responding to our appeals  the terrorists fired indiscriminately at security forces and lobbed grenades as well. After a brief gunfight the operation was suspended due to darkness while a tight cordon was maintained with the help of fresh  reinforcements in the area.He said, with the first light the firefight resumed and all three terrorists were gunned down. The operation ended around 11.30 a.m, he added.