Three LeT militants killed in Anantnag encounter
Srinagar: Three militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, police said.
Security forces had launched a cordon and search operation in Kwarigam, Ranipora area of the South Kashmir district following inputs about the presence of militants there, a police official said.
While the forces were conducting searches in the area the militants fired upon them. The forces retaliated leading to an exchange of fire in which three militants were killed, the official said.
One of the slain militants has been identified as Arif Hazam belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit, he said, adding Hazam was involved in the killing of Territorial Armyman Havaldar Manzoor Beigh in June 2019.
In the initial exchange of fire, two militants were killed while the third one continued to engage the forces from different locations, police sources said.
“After sometime, the third one was also killed,” the official said.
Meanwhile, IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar said that all three slain were affiliated to Lashkar outfit and one of them identified as Arif Hajam, was involved in the killing of a Territorial Army soldier on June 6, 2019. Arif is a resident of Sadoora, Anantnag.
The other two slain militants were identified as Basit Ahmad from Telwani, Anantnag and Suhail Ahmad from Pulwama.
Today’s encounter was sixth in a row in South Kashmir in the past 11 days that saw the killing of 15 militants including two top commanders of Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit.
