5 Lashkar terrorists, Army jawan killed in Pulwama encounter

Five Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists, including a district commander of the outfit, and an Army jawan were killed in an encounter between the ultras and the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Friday, police said. 

A Pakistani terrorist was also among the five ultras killed in the operation in which a soldier was injured.

Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar described the operation as a "big success" for the forces.

A police spokesperson said a cordon-and-search operation was launched in the Hanjin Rajpora area of south Kashmir's Pulwama late Thursday night acting on a specific input regarding the presence of ultras there.

During the search operation, civilians were evacuated to safer places, and after the presence of terrorists was ascertained, they were given an opportunity to surrender, the spokesman said.

But they opened indiscriminate fire on the search party instead, following which the security personnel retailed and a gunfight ensued, the official added.

The operation was suspended due to darkness, but the cordon remained intact throughout the night, he said.

"Today (Friday) in the morning, repeated announcements were again made to the hiding terrorists to surrender, but they fired on the joint search party and the fire was retaliated," the spokesman said.

In the initial exchange of fire, two Army jawans received gunshot injuries and were taken to a hospital, he said, adding that one of them died.

During the ensuing encounter, five terrorists were killed and their bodies retrieved, the spokesman said.

One of the slain ultras was identified as Nishaz Hussain Lone, alias Khitab, a resident of Nageenpora Tral, who was the district commander of the LeT and had been active since 2018.

The others are Danish Manzoor Shiekh of Sathergund Kakapora, Amir Wagay of Hanjan Payeen, Mehran Manzoor of Jamalatoo, Srinagar, and Abu Rehan, alias Tawheed, of Pakistan, the official said.

He said all of them were linked with the proscribed outfit LeT.

"As per police records, all the killed terrorists were part of groups involved in many terror crime cases and civilian atrocities," the official added.

Arms, ammunition and other incriminating materials were recovered from the site of the encounter, he said.

The spokesman said an SLR rifle which belonged to the police and was snatched by militants in 2016 was also recovered from the site.

All recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation and to probe their complicity in other terror crimes, he said.

Meanwhile, Inspector General Kumar congratulated the police and the security forces for the successful operation.