SRINAGAR: Three militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba including a Pakistani commander were killed in a nocturnal gunfight with security forces in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, police said.
A police official said acting on specific inputs about the presence of militants, a joint contingent of police, CRPF and army launched a search operation in main town Pulwama yesterday evening.
He said after plugging all the possible escape routes, security personnel zeroed in on the target area where the militants were hiding.
“After finding themselves trapped, militants opened fire on the troops. The fire was returned by security men, triggering an encounter,” the official said.
In the ensuing gunfight, which continued till the morning today, three Lashkar militants were killed.
IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar said two of the three militants killed were locals and another was a Pakistani militant Aijaz alias Abu Huraira.
“Aijaz was commander of the outfit,” he said.
Today’s encounter is the 8th encounter in the Valley in the last fortnight.
In these encounters, 21 militants and an army jawan have been killed.