An Army soldier was martyred and two injured during an encounter on Wednesday in Dragad of south Kashmir’s Shopian district where in a major success the security forces gunned down two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists including the one who had last week shot dead a carpenter from Uttar Pradesh Sageer Ahmad Ansari in Pulwama.
IGP (Kashmir) Vijay Kumar identified the killed LeT’s Shopian district commander as Adil Ahmad Wani who was active in terrorist activities since July last year.
Troops of the Army, CRPF and J&K Police cordoned the village in the morning after getting credible inputs about the presence of terrorists. The two terrorists were gunned down within a few minutes of the encounter. The other terrorist is yet to be identified.
Three soldiers were injured in the gunfight and one of them succumbed. The two others were receiving treatment in the military hospital.
Security forces appealed to the terrorists to surrender but they rejected the offer and opened fire leading to the encounter.
The IGP said that 15 terrorists have so far been neutralized in two weeks.
Meanwhile, the encounter between the Army and Pakistan backed terrorists in the Mendhar area along the Line of Control (LOC) in the Poonch district of Jammu on Wednesday entered the tenth day without any success in gunning down even a single highly trained terrorist. Nine soldiers, including two JCOs, have been killed in the encounter that broke out on 10 October. This is being considered as one of the longest encounters in Jammu and Kashmir.
Army Chief MM Naravane personally visited the forward area to have the first-hand assessment of the counter-insurgency operation.
There has been no contact between the troops and terrorists since Saturday but the thick forest area was being pounded and efforts made to track them down with drones and helicopters. The area has been cordoned and eight residents, including a woman, suspected to have provided logistic support to the terrorists have been detained for questioning.
ends