The joint teams of security forces eliminated four Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists, including two police deserters, in an overnight operation in Litter area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Friday morning.
The operation started hours after National Security Adviser Ajit Doval chaired a high-level security review meeting on Kashmir and took stock of the prevailing situation ahead of beginning of Amarnath Yatra from July 1.
The security forces faced tough resistance from the local residents on ground zero while carrying out the operation.
According to reports, a large number of local residents stepped out of their houses and moved towards the encounter site to disrupt the anti-terrorist operations during the night. The local police and paramilitary troops were deployed in outer cordon to prevent civilians from coming closer to the encounter site and suffer collateral damage.
The two Special Police Officers (SPOs) who were killed in the encouter had deserted Pulwama police lines and ran away with their automatic weapons barely 24 hours ago.
Meanwhile, two policemen also received injuries after terrorists lobbed a grenade at Sopore police station on Friday afternoon. The area was immediately cordoned off by the security forces to track down the terrorists.
According to initial reports, the grenade exploded outside the gate of the police station, causing splinter injuries to two policemen. The injured cops were shifted to district hospital in Sopore for medical treatment.
Sharing details of the Pulwama encounter, the police spokesman said, a cordon and search operation was launched by security forces at Panjran in Litter area of District Pulwama late on Thursday evening after receiving credible inputs about the presence of terrorists in the area.
“During the search operation, the hiding terrorists fired on the search party. The fire was retaliated leading to an encounter. In the ensuing encounter, two listed terrorists and two SPOs who had recently deserted and become members of the proscribed terrorist organisation JeM were killed,” police spokesman said.
The police also recovered from them two AK-47 rifles, one AKM (Modernised Kalashnikov Automatic Rifle) and one self-loading rifle (SLR).
The terrorists were identified as Ashiq Hussain Ganaie of Panjran Pulwama, Imran Ahmad Bhat of Arihal Pulwama, Mohammad Salman Khan of Uthmulla Shopian and Shabir Ahmad Dar of Tujan Pulwama (both SPOs). The two SPOs had joined the ranks of JeM terror outfit just 24 hours ago, the police said.
According to the police records, Ashiq Hussain had a history of terror related crimes and was part of a group involved in planning and executing series of terror attacks in the area. Similarly, Imran Bhat was also involved in several terror attacks on security establishments in the area. Many terror crime cases have been registered against the duo.