Militants killed in Kupwara encounter were foreigners: J&K police

Jammu and Kashmir police said that five militants killed in an encounter in northern Kupwara district on Wednesday, were foreigners, as security forces launched a search operation in the dense forest area to locate a missing army personnel.
 
"The operation is at controlling stage as searches are underway at some places. We have recovered arms and ammunition in large quantity. All those killed are foreign terrorists and prima facie it appears they are affiliated to LeT," Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Range, Swam Prakesh Pani told reporters in Srinagar.
 
Five militants and five security forces, including three army personnel and two policemen, were killed in the encounter that started on Tuesday afternoon at Halmatpora near Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara. One army personnel had reportedly gone missing during the operation.
 
"The encounter that started in the dense forest was a difficult task for the security forces owing to the thick vegetation. But the forces carefully completed the operation," the IGP said. 
 
Sources said the operation was suspended Wednesday night due to darkness in the dense forest to avoid any casualty and security forces resumed it early morning to trace the missing soldier. 
 
"The militants might have recently infiltrated from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), but were neutralised before they could reach to the hinterland. A few hundred militants have become active across the LoC with an aim to infiltrate into the state and create disturbances," they said.
 
"All these groups belonged to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hizbul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) outfits."
 
Sources said some of the militant commanders of these three outfits were also active across the LoC to facilitate infiltration attempts by the militants. "There is pressure on militants waiting on launching pads to infiltrate due to depleting the number of terrorists in the state in view of successes achieved by security forces against the militants,'' they added.