Two Lashkar – e – Toiba militants and a civilian were killed in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmir’s Shopian on Friday, police said.
The operation broke out at the Amshipora area of Shopian on Friday morning.
“After a cluster of houses were taken into cordon following the drill, civilians were evacuated to safety. Thereafter, house to house searches were started in the wee hours to locate the hiding terrorists. During the searches, terrorists came out and resorted to indiscriminate firing,” J&K Police said in a statement.
A civilian, who was also injured in the firing, later, succumbed to his injuries. He was identified as Shakeel Ahmed Khan.
“The injured civilian while being evacuated for medical help succumbed to the injuries. Terrorist’s fire was retaliated effectively in which both terrorists neutralised,” J&K Police said.
Police said two militants who were killed in the encounter, were later identified as, Muzamil Ahmad Mir and Mohammad Ayoub Wagay, both residents of Shopian.
On February 19, a militant and two soldiers were killed in a gunfight in Shopian. The encounter was the first incident of Army men dying in gunfight with militants in the Valley this year.