Srinagar: A Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist was killed and two army personnel were martyred in an encounter on Saturday in the highly sensitive Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir. A senior police officer gave this information.
Inspector General of Police (Kashmir range) Vijay Kumar said here that security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation after receiving a tip-off about the presence of terrorists at Chermarg in Jainapura area of Shopian.
He said the security personnel involved in the search operation followed standard operating procedure and surrounded some houses and started evacuating civilians from them. He said that when the search team went to the house of Gauhar Ahmed Bhat, it deliberately tried to mislead them and refused to give shelter to the terrorists.
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He said that while Bhat was being interrogated, the terrorists hiding in the house opened fire on him, injuring two army personnel seriously. The LeT terrorist Abdul Qayoom Dar, a resident of Laru Kakpora in Pulwama district, was killed in the encounter that started after the exchange of fire, the official said. He said ammunition including one AK rifle and pistol have been recovered from the slain terrorist.
He said that both the soldiers injured in the incident later succumbed to their injuries. The martyred jawans have been identified as a Rashtriya Rifles constable Santosh Yadav and Chavan Romit Tanaji. “A case has been registered against the owner of the house under the Anti-Terrorism Act and he has been arrested,” Kumar said.
It is noteworthy that an encounter with Lashkar terrorist Dar took place at his house in April 2020 after which a case was registered against him under the Public Safety Act. He was released in August 2021. However, despite his release, he worked for the terrorist group and had recently escaped from his home. Kumar said he was declared an active Lashkar terrorist by the Senior Superintendent of Police of Pulwama after his disappearance and confirmation of his involvement in the terrorist group. (agency)