Soldier, 2 militants killed in encounter in J&K, had links with Pulwama attack
The exchange of fire was going on when last reports came in.
Srinagar: A jawan has died in an encounter with terrorists in Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir Tuesday, a police official said, a day after an Army major was killed by them during a gunbattle in the district.
Two terrorists were also shot dead in the encounter - one of them has been identified as Sajjad Maqbool Bhat, who arranged the explosive-laden vehicle used in the suicide bombing of a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in February, and the other was Tawseef Bhat, the handler of the suicide bomber.
Acting on a credible input about the presence of terrorists in Bijbehara area of the south Kashmir district, security forces launched a cordon and search operation this morning.
The search operation turned into an encounter after the terrorists opened fire on the forces, who retaliated. A jawan was injured in the gunbattle, the official said, adding he succumbed at a hospital.
The exchange of fire was going on when last reports came in.
On Monday, an Army major was killed and another officer and two troopers were injured in an encounter with terrorists in the district's Achabal area. A terrorist was also neutralised.
The same day, terrorists also targeted an Army patrol unit with a vehicle fitted with an improvised explosive device in Pulwama district. Nine jawans and two civilians were injured. They are recuperating at a hospital. The site of the blast was 27 km from the area where a convoy of vehicles carrying CRPF personnel was attacked by a suicide bomber in February in which 40 jawans were killed.
Last week, a lone Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist attacked a patrol team of the paramilitary force in Anantnag, killing five CRPF personnel. A Jammu and Kashmir police officer, who had reached the site of the attack shortly after the attack, was sprayed with bullets the moment he had stepped out of his bullet-proof vehicle. He was flown to Delhi AIIMS, but died on Sunday.