Three terrorists killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag; two CRPF men, two cops injured in Srinagar encounter

Srinagar: Three terrorists were killed while two paramilitary personnel and two policemen were injured in separate encounters between ultra and security forces in Srinagar and south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Saturday.

In the first encounter, security forces gunned down two terrorists in Halkan Gali in the Shangus-Larnoo area of Anantnag. The gunbattle broke out after security forces launched an anti-terrorist operation in the area.

Reports said one among the slain terrorists was a foreigner while the other is a local. However, their identities and group affiliations were not known yet.

In the second encounter, which was under way in the Khanyar area of old city Srinagar, two paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and two policemen were injured, officials said. The encounter broke out in the congested Khanyar area after security forces launched a cordon and search operation in the morning following inputs about the presence of terrorists.

The injured were taken to the Army's 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar, where their condition is stated to be stable, the officials said.

Earlier Kashmir Zone Police in a post on X said, “A cordon and search operation in Khanyar area of district Srinagar has resulted in an exchange of fire. Police and security forces are on the job. Further details shall follow.”

Unconfirmed reports said one residential house was destroyed in the encounter and a terrorist believed to be Lashker-e-Toiba commander Usman, a resident of Pakistan, has been killed in the encounter.

There has been spurt in terror attacks in the valley since Omar Abdullah took office as the first chief minister of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir on October 16.

On October 24, three soldiers and two army porters were killed in a terror attack in Bota Pathari, around 12 kms from famous ski-resort Gulmarg and close to the Line of Control (LoC), when terrorists ambushed an army vehicle.

Four days prior, seven persons, including a local doctor, were killed in a terror attack near an under-construction tunnel in Gund area of central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district on October 16. Among the victims were both local and non-local workers, police said and added two terrorists were involved in the attack.