The security forces on Wednesday gunned down five terrorists hours after a fierce encounter began in south Kashmir`s Shopian district. Confirming the news, Jammu and Kashmir Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar said, “the encounter began at Sugoo village on Wednesday morning after security forces came under fire from hiding terrorists.”
The identity and group affiliation of the slain five terrorists is being ascertained by the security forces.
The Sugoo village was earlier cordoned off by a joint team of Army and the J&K Police after a specific intelligence input about the presence of terrorists in the area.
As the security forces zeroed in, the terrorists fired at them. In the ensuing gun battle, all five terrorists were killed.
This is the third major encounter in the Shopian district in less than a week.
On Sunday, five terrorists were killed in an encounter at Reban village whereas four terrorists were killed in Pinjura village of Shopian on Monday.
A total of 14 terrorists have been killed in the last 3 encounters in the past 4 days in the Shopian district of south Kashmir.
Dilbag Singh, DGP, Jammu and Kashmir, also confirmed that 5 terrorists got killed in the encounter. “All five terrorists got killed in the ongoing operation at Shopian. A search operation is underway,” he said.
“The bodies of all five slain terrorists and a huge cache of arms and ammunition have been recovered from the encounter spot.
DGP Dilbag Singh had earlier said, “On a specific input to police, a joint operation was launched by police, Army and CRPF unit. The input said that a group of terrorists was hiding in a hideout in orchards. As the hideout was cordoned, the terrorists fired on the search party, which was retaliated.’’
He added that it was an old hideout that the terrorists were using since long and security forces were waiting for an appropriate time to launch the operation.
Earlier, in two separate encounters at Reban and Pinjura villages of the district on June 6 and 7, at least 9 terrorists were killed. The J&K Police said that they belonged to the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen outfit.
In this year so far, the security forces had succeeded in killing at least 93 terrorists, including top commanders of almost every terror outfit.
Meanwhile, authorities have suspended the mobile internet services in the district as a precautionary measure.