3 LeT terrorists killed in Pulwama encounter

Srinagar: Three local Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist were killed in overnight encounter in Pulwama district of south Kashmir and one among them was involved in the killing of a policeman Reyaz Ahmad, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir, Zone , Vijay Kumar said.

The encounter in Drabgam had broken out on Saturday evening after police , 44 Rashtriya Rifles and CRPF cordoned off the area to flush out terrorists. It ended on Sunday morning with killing of three terrorists.

“#PulwamaEncounterUpdate: All three killed #terrorists are locals, linked with #terror outfit LeT. One of them has been identified as Junaid Sheergojri, involved in #killing of our colleague #Martyr Reyaz Ahmad on 13/5/22: IGP Kashmir@JmuKmrPolice;” IGP Kashmir said in a tweet on Sunday morning.

Earlier last evening one terrorist was killed while as two others were killed during overnight exchange of firing. They have been identified as Junaid Ahmad Sheergojri of Gadoora Pulwama, Fazil Nazir Bhat of Drabgam Pulwama and Irfan Ahmad Malik of Arabal Nikas Pulwama.

“Yesterday, at about 1855hrs, acting on specific information generated by Police regarding presence of terrorists in village Drabgam area of Pulwama, a joint cordon & search operation was launched by Police, Army (44RR) & CRPF (182/183Bn) in the said area,” Police said.

“During the search operation, as the joint party approached towards the suspected spot, the hiding terrorists fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated effectively leading to an encounter.

In the ensuing encounter, three local terrorists of proscribed terror outfit LeT were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter.”

As per police records, police said: “all the three killed terrorists were part of groups involved in several terror crime cases including attacks on Police/SFs and civilian atrocities. The killed terrorist Junaid Sheergojri along with his associate Abid Hussain Shah of Monghama Pulwama, who stands neutralised on 30/05/2022, was involved in killing of police personnel Reyaz Ahmad at his residential house on 13th May 2022. Besides, he was also involved in recent attack on outside labourers at a brick kiln in Chadoora on 02/06/2022 in the outskirts of Pulwama-Budgam axis in which one labourer was killed and others injured,” Police said.

Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including two AK-47 rifles and a Pistol have been recovered from the site of encounter. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation.

“IGP Kashmir Shri Vijay Kumar congratulated the joint teams for carrying out the anti-terrorist operation in professional manner without any collateral damage. He also appreciated the joint team for tracking and neutralising the terrorists involved in the recent killing of policeman in Pulwama,” police quoted IGP Kashmir as saying.