SRI NAGAR: Five Lashkar-e-Taiba militants, including a district commander, and an army jawan were killed in an encounter in a village in south Kashmir’s Pulwama on Friday. It was the second gunfight in south Kashmir in as many days.
A police official said a joint contingent of police, CRPF and army men launched a search operation at Hanjin village in Rajpora area in Pulwama district after receiving inputs about the presence of a group of Lashkar militants there. He said when security personnel zeroed in on a target area, they came under heavy firing.
“It was returned by our troops and in the gunfight Havaldar Kashiray Bammanalli sustained injuries. He was taken to hospital, but succumbed to injuries,” the official said.IGP Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said the militants belonged to Lashkar and one of them was district commander Nishaz Lone alias Khitab.
He said another militant was a Pakistani. “Killing of five militants is a big success for the security forces,” the IGP said. An army official said two AK rifles, two SLR rifles, two pistols and other weapons were recovered.