Six Lashkar-e-Taiba militants of Pakistani origin, who escaped from Triyath forest after a brief encounter three days ago, were killed by security forces after they tracked them down in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday.
Police and security forces tracked down the group of militants in Talli Dharaman-Sarothi belt (Triyath) of Kalakote tehsil of Rajouri district and trapped them around 1430 hours.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Rajouri, Shafkat Watalie told PTI, giving details of anti-terrorist 'Operation Khoj'.
The joint operation party retaliated after militants fired on them, SSP said, adding that in the fierce gunbattle that ensued for three-and-a-half hours, six militants were killed.
A search team of Police led by Additional Superintendent of Police R K Bhat and assisted by Army, Special Operation Group (SoG) and CRPF tracked down the militants who had escaped from Triyath forest on March 30 following a brief encounter with the security personnel.
A jawan had been killed and Station House Officer (SHO) of Daramshal Police Station Inspector Showkat Ali was injured in that incident.
"For the past three days, police and security force team was searching for them in dense forest and deep valley in Dharamshal belt and finally tracked them," a senior police officer said.
"All the killed militants belong to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit," SSP Watalie said, adding that 12 LeT militants have been killed in past six days in three encounters in Rajouri district.
