Srinagar: With just 3 days left for the annual Amarnath Yatra to begin, security forces today killed 2 terrorists of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which has already issued threats to disrupt the pilgrimage in Kashmir.
The gunfight took place at Nowpora-Kherpora area of Trubji village in Kulgam district after security forces launched a search operation following information about presence of terrorists there, police said.
As the cordon was being laid, the hiding terrorists opened fire, the police said.
The joint team of security forces, in the face of firing by terrorists, safely evacuated the civilians who got trapped there.
After ensuring safe evacuation of all the civilians, security forces retaliated strongly to the firing by terrorists, as a result of which two terrorists were killed, the police said.
Both the terrorists were locals and affiliated to LeT, the police added.
Kashmir Zone IGP Vijay Kumar said the encounter site is “very close to NHW (national highway)”, which is the route for the Yatra to the Holy cave of Lord Shiva in the mountains of south Kashmir.
He described the operation as important considering that the so-called The Resistance Front (TRF), the shadowy front for LeT, has already issued threats to disrupt the Yatra.
“As per police records, both the killed terrorists were categorized and involved in several terror crime cases including attacks on Police/security forces and civilian atrocities including killing of PRIs,” police spokesman said.
The 43-day Amarnath Yatra begins on June 30 and the government is expecting lakhs of devotees to participate in it, especially because the pilgrimage could not take place physically in the last two years because of Covid restrictions.
