Srinagar (NVI): Security forces are making efforts to flush out terrorists, believed to be two in number, who took shelter in a local mosque in Kashmir’s Pulwama district today.
Considering the sanctity of the shrine involved, the security forces have been restraining from firing towards the mosque, officials said.
An associate of the two hiding terrorists has already been killed in an encounter that began early this morning after security forces received a tip-off about the presence of three terrorists in Meej village of Pampore in Pulwama district and laid a cordon there.
“When the security forces zeroed in on a suspected spot, the hiding terrorists opened fire, triggering an encounter. The terrorists opened a heavy volume of fire that was retaliated,” an official said.
Kashmir Zone police tweeted, saying, “In an ongoing encounter at Meej, Pampore, one militant has been killed whose identity is being ascertained.”
The terrorist was killed as he tried to enter a cowshed, officials said. Two others, however, managed to enter a local mosque.
“After coming to know that two militants are hiding in a mosque, the cordon was further tightened and so far repeated announcements are made on loudspeakers by the police and army asking militants to come out,” an official said.
Security forces have not opened any fire at the mosque, he said.
Security forces this year, so far, have killed 95 terrorists including top commanders of Hizbul Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba like Reyaz Naikoo, the chief operational commander of Hizb, Bashir Koka of Lashkar and Abdur Rehman alias Fouji Bhai of Pakistan, who was an IED expert of Jaish.
