Two Jaish-e-Muhammad militants killed in Kashmir encounter

Srinagar: Two Islamic militants were killed in a fierce gun battle between security forces and militants in a remote village of Jammu and Kashmir’s southern Pulwama district.

Police and Army officials said that the encounter started on Sunday afternoon after security forces had entered Kaigam village of Tral area of the district on learning about the presence of militants there.

A police officer told Deccan Chronicle that the men from J&K police’s counter-insurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) based in neighbouring Awantipore town and the soldiers of Army’s 3 and 44 Rashtriya Rifles quickly started the operation against the militants and have, so far, killed two gunmen.

A defence spokesperson said that the slain militants were foreign nationals associated with Jaish-e-Muhammad group. He added that one Army jawan has been injured in the ongoing gun battle.

“Based on specific intelligence about the presence of some terrorists in village Kaigam (Pulwama district), a joint operation was launched by the Army and J&K police on Sunday afternoon,” the spokesman said adding that “as the cordon was being tightened around the suspected area where the terrorists were hiding, they opened a heavy volume of indiscriminate fire following which an intense exchange of fire ensued.”

He identified the slain militants as Adil Pathan and Burmee and said that two AK 47 rifles and other “war like stores” were found on them. The spokesman also said that the injured Army jawan was immediately evacuated and that his condition is reported to be stable in hospital.

Latest reports from Tral said that the firing stopped with the killing of two militants but the search operation in the area was still underway.