After losing two soldiers, one each from the Indian Army and Jammu & Kashmir police during fierce gunfight in Khrew area of Pampore in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Tuesday, a joint team of security forces on Wednesday once again trapped group of terrorists responsible for killing their buddies, one kilometer away from the encounter site, and eliminated at least one terrorist.
According to ground reports, massive searches were going on in the Khrew area after the initial gunfight with terrorists resulted in killing of two soldiers. Due to bad weather and poor light conditions, the search operations were halted and the same were resumed early Wednesday morning.
After the fresh contact was established with the hiding terrorists,the security forces tightened the cordon and eliminated at least one of the terrorists in the ensuing encounter, official sources said.
Confirming the elimination of one of the terrorists, twitter handle of the Jammu & Kashmir police posted a message which read, “Police & Security forces killed one of the killers of Martyred SPO Shahbaz Ahmed and Martyred Rifleman Rahul in this operation even before bodies of these martyrs reached their respective homes.Operation is going on at Nagander one kilometre away from yesterday encounter site”.
Official sources claimed, security forces were conducting random searches in the area since Wednesday morning to track down the foot prints of the terrorists hiding in the area. Meanwhile, mortal remains of both the soldiers were dispatched to their native places after a formal wreath laying ceremony in Srinagar. Senior police and Army officers paid their tributes to both the martyrs. Interacting with the media in Srinagar, DGP Dilbagh Singh said, the security has been beefed up in Kashmir.
“All arrangements have been made with regard to security measures on ground, the security in South Kashmir has been reviewed. We visited Anantnag and also took stock of the security in other districts,” DGP Singh said.
“We have strengthened the security measures in Srinagar ahead of the Republic Day,” he added. In the run up to the Republic day celebrations, a high alert has been sounded in Jammu and Kashmir after intelligence inputs suggest of possible terror strikes.
According to latest intel reports, a joint module of Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizbul Mujahideen militants have been tasked by their handlers in Pakistan to carry out dastardly attacks in the run up to the Republic day.
There are inputs that militants could launch suicide attacks on security installations in south Kashmir and defence positions across the south of Pir Panjal in the Jammu region.
According to inputs, terrorist movement has also been traced in areas of Srinagar and Budgam districts.