Three militants, believed to be involved in the abduction and murder of a police constable, were killed in an encounter with security forces in Khudwani area of south Kashmir’s Kulgam district early Sunday.
State police chief Shesh Pal Vaid said that three bodies of the militants were recovered from the encounter site. “3 bodies of terrorists recovered with three weapons so far from encounter site,” he tweeted.
In an earlier tweet, he said, “Terrorists group that tortured our colleague CT Mohd Saleem of Kulgam & killed him brutally are all trapped in an encounter with J&K Police/Army/CRPF in Khudwani Kulgam (sic).”
The identity of the slain militants was not immediately known.
Saleem was abducted by the militants from his home in Kulgam district on Friday night and his bullet-riddled body was found on Saturday. He had been undergoing police training in Kathua and was home in Kulgam on leave. The slain cop was the lone breadwinner for his family and is survived by aged parents, two brothers and one unmarried sister, a police spokesman said.
Earlier, sources said, security forces launched a cordon and search operation (CASO) on intelligence inputs that the militants involved in the killing of Saleem were hiding in the area. “As the cordon was tightened, hiding militants opened fire, triggering an encounter. In the retaliatory action by the army, all the three militants were killed,” they said.
Authorities have snapped mobile internet services in Kulgam and neighbouring Anantnag districts as a precautionary measure.
Over the last three years, south Kashmir districts of Anantnag, Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwama have become the epicentre of new age militancy with policemen and political workers targeted frequently. This year 25 policemen have been killed by militants in various parts of Kashmir.
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