Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday expressed grief over the death of two civilians during security operations in Anantnag and Shopian districts today.
“She also sympathised with those injured during these operations,” an official spokesman said.
He said the chief minister also paid tributes to the three Army jawans, killed in these operations.
She conveyed her sympathies with the bereaved families and prayed for peace to the departed souls, he added.
Three Indian Army soldiers were among the 16 people killed on Sunday in three separate encounters in the Anantnag and Shopian districts of South Kashmir. Eleven terrorists of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and Lashkar-e-Tayiba (LeT), some of them top commanders, were eliminated in the gunfight. Two civilians also lost their life during the encounters. This is the highest number of terrorists killed in a single day after an operation in 2010.
About six Army and CRPF personnel with injuries have been shifted to the Army hospital.
31 among a mob that gathered at the encounter spot and pelted stones at the security forces in a bid to enable the terrorists escape were injured as the police fired pellet guns to chase away the miscreants. Six of the injured had bullet wounds.
Among the killed terrorists were top commanders of the HM and LeT outfits, said the J&K DGP SP Vaid in a joint media interaction in Srinagar where the Commander of the Chinar Corps, Lt.Gen.AK Bhat and top officers of CRPF were present.
Seven terrorists were killed at Dragad in Shopian and one at Dialgam in Anantnag. Three terrorists were killed at Kachdoora in Shopian announced Vaid on the tweeter. “Three bodies of terrorists recovered in Kachdoora Shopian”, he tweeted.
The two Army jawans were martyred during the encounter at Dragad and Kachdoora. Among the killed civilians was owner of the house where the terrorists were hiding.
The security advanced cautiously at Kachdoora where some civilians were trapped in the houses from where the terrorists were firing.
(With agency inputs)