SRINAGAR: Three Jaish-e-Mohammad militants including a Pakistani were killed in an encounter with troops in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Wednesday, January 5, 2022. It was the 4th gunfight in militancy-hit Kashmir in three days.
A police official said acting on specific information about the presence of militants, a joint combing and search operation was launched by police, CRPF and army at Chandgam village in Pulwama yesterday evening.
He said during the search operation, militants fired on the search party. “The fire was returned by troops, triggering an encounter”.
The IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar said three Jaish militants were killed in the gunfight.
He said one of the slain militants was a Pakistani national.
“2 M-4 carbines and 1 AK rifle were recovered from the encounter site,” he said and termed the killing of three militants as a big success for security forces.
It was the fourth encounter in Kashmir in the last three days.
Earlier, two local TRF militants were killed in a gunfight with troops in Kulgam in south Kashmir yesterday.
On Monday, two Lashkar-e-Toiba militants including a top commander Salim Parray were killed in twin gunfights in the Shalimar area of Srinagar.
According to police, 168 militants are active in Kashmir and of them, 83 are foreigners and 85 locals.
Of the 168 active militants in Kashmir, 65 militants (12 locals and 53 foreigners) are active in north Kashmir, 16 militants (9 locals and 7 foreigners) in central Kashmir and 87 militants (64 locals and 23 foreigners) are active in south Kashmir.
IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar said recently that it is for the first time in over three decades of militancy in J&K that less than 200 militants are active in Kashmir now.