In another major jolt to the Pakistan based terror handlers, a mixed group of five terrorists belonging to the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and Lashkar-e-Tayiba (LeT) were killed on Wednesday in the Sugu-Handamah area of south Kashmir’s Shopian district.

This was the third anti-terror operation in Shopian this week in which 14 terrorists have so far been eliminated in 4 days.

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Confirming the killing of 5 terrorists, the J&K DGP Dilbag Singh told The Statesman that it was a mixed group of HM and LeT terrorists.

In another incident, the mutilated body of Tariq Ahmad, owner of the house in which 4 HM terrorists were killed in an encounter on 8 June in the Pinjura village of Shopian, was found today in the Kungnoo Turkwangam village in south Kashmir. Tariq was abducted and was tortured by militants who suspected that he had informed the police about the presence of the terrorists. His body bore torture marks and he was brutally killed, said a police source.

Defence spokesman, Colonel Rajesh Kalia said that a joint operation by the Army, CRPF and J&K Police was launched in the wee hours at 1.45 am following intelligence inputs of J&K Police. Cordon was laid in the village and contact established with terrorists at 5.30 am. Terrorists opened fire at the security forces that zeroed in around the place where they were hiding.  Three terrorists were killed during the initial encounter and others two were eliminated later.

Colonel Kalia said that the operation was executed with precision ensuring that no collateral damage was caused. Two AK rifles, one SLR and one pistol were among the recovery made at the encounter spot. The area was being combed by the security forces. Identity of the killed terrorists was being established.

This was the third major encounter in Shopian district in less than a week. Five terrorists of the HM were killed in an encounter in the Reban village of Shopian district and again four on Monday in the Pinjura village of the district.

This indicates that Shopian, which has a direct road link with the Rajouri and Poonch districts of the Jammu division, has become a sanctuary of Pakistan backed terrorists. Rajouri and Poonch share the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan occupied J&K (PoJK) from where Pakistani troops under the cover of firing try to push in trained terrorists into India. A heavily armed terrorist was killed by the Army in the Kalakote area of Rajouri soon after he infiltrated through the LoC.