Three Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militants, including a Pakistani, were killed in a pre-dawn encounter with security forces in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Wednesday.
“#PulwamaEncounterUpdate: 03 #terrorists of terror outfit JeM including one #Pakistani national killed. #Incriminating materials, arms & ammunition including 2 M-4 carbine and 1 AK series rifle recovered. A big success for us: IGP Kashmir (sic),” Kashmir Zone Police tweeted.
The police said the encounter broke out during wee hours after security forces launched a cordon-and-search-operation (CASO) in Chandgam village of Pulwama, 32 kms from here, following specific inputs about the presence of militants in the area.
A police official said the trapped militant was given ample opportunities to surrender. However, the militant denied and instead fired indiscriminately upon the search party which retaliated leading to an encounter in which three ultras were killed.
The new year started with encounters in Kashmir as the first five days of 2022 have recorded a gunfight every day so far resulting in the killing of eight militants, including top Lashkar-e-Taiba commander.
Out of five gun-battles, the Srinagar district witnessed two encounters in a span of just one hour while Kupwara district in north Kashmir and Kulgam and Pulwama in south saw one encounter each.
171 militants were killed in Kashmir in 2021 and according to police figures, 156 ultras, including 73 foreigners, were active in Kashmir as on December 31. This is for the first time that the number of active militants in the Valley has come down to less than 200 since the insurgency erupted in Kashmir in 1990.
In 2021, out of 128 locals who became militants, 79 were killed and 17 arrested.
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