Three terrorists gunned down in Anantnag encounter; arms and ammunitions recovered

Three terrorists were killed on Monday morning in an overnight encounter at the Runipora Khulchohar area in the Anantnag district of South Kashmir.

Regarding the encounter, Kashmir Zone police tweeted, “ 3 unidentified terrorists killed. Identification being ascertained. Search going on. Further details shall follow." The account also tagged the official handle of the Jammu and Kashmir Police in the tweet.

Including the three terrorists who were killed in this encounter, the official numbers associated with slain terrorists this year in the valley have gone up to 116, which includes the seven operational commanders of different terror outfits who were gunned down.

This is the 13th encounter in the month of June. Joint security forces have killed more than 40 terrorists in the Kashmir valley this month.

The 'Hizbul Mujahideen', among all other terrorist outfits, remains the primary target of security forces. Almost every one of its top commanders, including the longest-surviving operational commander Riyaz Naikoo, was killed this year. Recently, the police had claimed that the Tral town in Pulwama district had become 'Hizbul-free'.

It is a considerably significant feat, especially since Tral had remained a hub of the Hizbul Mujahideen since 1989.

According to a top police official, a joint team of the J&K Police, the 19 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) of the Indian Army and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) had earlier launched a cordon-and-search-operation in the Runipora Khulchohar area after the police received a tip-off regarding the presence of terrorists in the area.

The official said that as the joint team cordoned the suspected spot, the hiding militants fired upon them. The fire was retaliated upon by the joint team, thus triggering the encounter.

Security forces have retrieved the dead bodies, along with arms and ammunition from the spot. The Indian Army has said that one AK rifle and two pistols have been recovered till now. A search in the area is currently on.