3 militants killed in Tral encounter

Three militants of the 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 the army’s Rashtriya Rifles and special operations group of the Jammu and Kashmir Police launched a search operation after inputs about the 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 neutralised after several hours of intense firing. However, two to three militants managed to escape from the spot and disappeared into a nearby forest area,” the sources said and added that helicopters and para commandos were pressed into service to locate and neutralise 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.
IGP (Kashmir) Muneer Khan, while confirming the killing of three militants, said the operation has ended.
He said the identification of the slain militants is being ascertained. However, Khan said, preliminary investigations reveal that the slain militants belonged to the Jaish outfit and are foreigners.

Tral is the hometown of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, 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 the 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 past eight years. The security forces are tracking down 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.