3 Lashkar militants shot dead in encounter at J&K’s Shopian
Additional director general of police, Kashmir zone, Vijay Kumar said two of the three slain terrorists were involved in civilian killings
Three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants were shot dead on Tuesday in an early-morning encounter at Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district, police said.
Additional director general of police, Kashmir zone, Vijay Kumar said two of the three slain terrorists were involved in civilian killings.
One of them, the police said, was involved in the killing of Kashmiri Pandit Puran Krishan Bhat, while another was responsible for killing Till Bahadur Thapa of Nepal.
The security forces have also recovered one AK-47 rifle and two pistols from the encounter site.
Based on specific inputs, a joint cordon and search operation was launched in the area of Mujmarg orchards in Shopian by the army, J&K Police and CRPF around 6am.
“Among 03 neutralised local #terrorists, 02 identified as Lateef Lone of #Shopian, involved in #killing of a Kashmiri Pandit Shri Purana Krishna Bhat & Umer Nazir of Anantnag, involved in killing of Till Bahadur Thapa of Nepal. 01 AK 47 rifle & 2 pistols recovered: ADGP Kashmir (sic),” the Kashmir zone police tweeted.
The police later identified the third militant as Danish Hussain Kakroo of Qazi Hamam, Baramulla.
ADGP Kumar told the media that the third militant had recently joined militant ranks. “All the militants involved in the killing of minorities have been neutralised. Now only one, Adil Wani, is at large,” he added.
The operation comes a day after a Lashkar operative was arrested in Baramulla.
“Based on a specific input, an operation was carried out on December 18 by joint parties of police and 32 RR, leading to the arrest of one terrorist associate,” a police spokesperson had said in a tweet on Monday.
Union minister Anurag Thakur too had spoken about the government’s measures against terrorists. “The government’s resolve against terror has been displayed time and again from surgical strike to Balakot air strike. The action by our armed forces has caused a significant drop in terror incidents in J&K. Similarly, we have achieved a 94% conviction rate in terror-financing cases,” he had said.