SRINAGAR: Two militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba were killed in an encounter with security forces in restive Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, while two soldiers sustained injuries in an accidental blast close in Machil sector, close to the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir.
A police official said a joint party of the army, CRPF and the police launched a cordon and search operation at Hend-Sitapur area in Shopian in the early hours on Sunday.
“During the search operation, militants hiding in the area fired on the search party. The forces returned fire, triggering an encounter,” he said.
In the ensuing gunfight, which continued for nearly two hours, two Lashkar-e-Toiba militants were killed.
Both the deceased militants were locals and were identified as Adil Bashir Wani of Warpora, Kulgam and Javaid Ahmad Bhat of Redwani in Kulgam.
According to police sources, Javed had turned militant in 2017, while Adil was a recent recruit.
After the gunfight started, the youth of the area attempted to march towards the encounter site to hamper the operation. However, they were intercepted by police and CRPF personnel.
Meanwhile, two army men were injured when a grenade went off when soldiers were cleaning their weapons at their post in Machil sector in Kupwara district on Saturday night. last evening. Havaldar Jaipal Singh Tomar and Naik Vikram Mane of 56 Rashtriya Rifles received splinter injuries in the blast.