Two militants killed, three associates held in Kashmir

He said the search operation turned into an encounter after the hiding militants fired upon the forces who retaliated.

After the initial firing, the operation was halted to evacuate civilians, the official said.

After the civilians were evacuated, the exchange of firing resumed and a militant was killed on Wednesday night, while a soldier was injured, he said.

As the firing continued during the night, another militant was killed, the official said.

Inspector general of police (IGP), Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said the two ultras belonged to the Al-Badr outfit.
“Both killed terrorists identified as local terrorists namely Aijaz Hafiz & Shahid Ayub, of Al-Badr outfit. 02 AK rifles recovered. They had been involved in series of attacks on outside labourers in Pulwama in the month of March-April 2022,” the IGP said in a tweet.

Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir zone, Vijay Kumar said that the 62 militants including 15 foreigners militants have been killed in Kashmir so far this year and most of them were affiliated with LeT.
He said that due to enhanced human intelligence, technical intelligence and focused operations, the surviving rate of militants is drastically decreasing.

“During the current year, 62 militants linked with different outfits have been neutralized in different encounters so far. Out of these 62 killed militants, 32 militants got neutralized within just three months of their joining militant rank,” he said.

“Among the 62 killed militants, 39 were linked with LeT, 15 with JeM, 06 with HM & 02 with Al-Badr. The killed militants include 47 local militants and 15 foreign militants.”