Gunbattle in Srinagar, One of the Two Militants Killed Is from Pak

Two Lashkar-e-Toiba militants were killed in an overnight encounter with security forces in Pulwama district of south Kashmir, police said.

A defense spokesman said Army and police launched a joint search operation on the intelligence inputs regarding presence of militants in Harpura Mohalla of Gasu in Pulwama district yesterday.

The identity of the other terrorist, believed to be a foreigner, was being ascertained, the official said. With a motive to give security forces a slip, the underground terrorists tried to escape from the house at around 3 AM.

The bodies of the two was detected today morning with two AK rifles.

After the security forces went close to the house where the militants were reportedly hiding, they began firing at the forces and so in retaliation, a gunfight broke between them. Pulwama Superintendent of Police Tejinder Singh said that out of the two terrorists, one was a local named Manzoor and the other was a Pakistani infiltrate.

The witnesses said that the mourners staged anti-India and pro-freedom protests in several parts of the district while there was a complete shutdown. The district observed a complete spontaneous shutdown amid clashes throughout the day.

The killing of the two militants sparked spontaneous shutdown in Pulwama and Kakapora area. “Finding themselves trapped, the holed up terrorists are resorting to heavy firing in sheer desperation”, said the police official.