Security forces gun down LeT terrorist in J-K's Shopian

A Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist was gunned down by security forces in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district on Friday, police said.

A cordon-and-search operation was launched at Rakhama village in the district in the morning following information about the presence of militants in the area, a police spokesperson said.

"During the search operation, as the presence of the terrorist was ascertained, he was given an opportunity to surrender. He instead fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party, which was retaliated, leading to an encounter," he said.

In the ensuing gunfight, the terrorist, identified as Mujeeb Lone of Redwani Bala Kulgam, was killed, and his body was retrieved from the site of the encounter, the spokesman said.

As per police records, he had joined the terror fold recently and was linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT, he said.

"He (Lone) was responsible for creating terror among the locals and had been coercing innocent citizens to sympathise with anti-national elements," the official added.

The spokesperson said incriminating materials and arms and ammunition, including a pistol and a magazine, were recovered.

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