Three Jaish militants killed in Tral encounter

 Three militants of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit were killed in an encounter with security forces in Tral area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Saturday.

Sources said that a joint party of Army’s Rashtriya Rifles and special operations group (SOG) of J&K police launched a search operation after inputs about presence of a group of five to six militants in Satoora forest area of Tral, 38 km from here early in the morning.

“While two of the militants were killed in the initial assault by the security forces this morning, the third one took shelter inside a cave and was neutralized after several hours of intense firing. However, two to three militants managed to escape from the spot and disappeared in a nearby forest area,” they said and added helicopters and para commandos were pressed into service to locate and neutralize the hiding militants.

Reports said as the encounter was going on, a stone pelting mob tried to march towards the encounter site to help the militants escape but were chased away by the security forces. Six protesters who sustained minor injuries in the clashes were shifted to a nearby hospital, reports added.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir, Muneer Khan while confirming the killing of three militants said operation has ended. He said the identification of the slain militants is being ascertained. However, he said, preliminary investigations reveal that the slain militants belonged to Jaish outfit and are foreigners.

Tral is the hometown of slain Burhan Wani, the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander, who was killed by security forces on July 8 last year triggering a wave of unrest in the Valley for nearly a year.

With militancy, especially home grown, on rise, security forces have launched a massive operation to flush out the terrorists. More than 100 militants have been killed so far this year, which is highest in the last eight years. The security forces are going after militants as part of operation "hunt down" and on the basis of a “hit list” of militants. On Wednesday three local Hizbul militants were killed in an overnight encounter in central Kashmir’s Budgam district.

Meanwhile, a paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) trooper was injured in a grenade blast in neighbouring Kulgam district. A police official said that militants lobbed a grenade at a joint party of police and CRPF near Grid Station in the town, 70 km from here.