Jammu: Two terrorists belonging to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were killed in a gun battle with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district on Friday, officials said.
A joint patrol party of police and the Army launched a search in the forest belts of Thanamandi in Rajouri following inputs regarding the presence of terrorists in the area, a police spokesperson said.
While the search was going on, the terrorists hiding in the forest fired on the security forces.
In the ensuing encounter, two unidentified members of proscribed terror outfit LeT were killed, the spokesperson said.
Two AK-47 rifles with seven magazines, four grenades, some pouches and packets of medicine were seized from the possession of the slain terrorists, he added.
A defence spokesperson based in Jammu said the joint cordon-and-search operation by the Indian Army and police was launched in the remote village of Pangai, located in a forested area of Thanamandi. He said the terrorists were successfully neutralised by the security forces.
The operation was going on at the time of filing this report to ensure that the area is adequately sanitised.
Giving details of the encounter earlier, additional director general of police (ADGP), Jammu zone Mukesh Singh said the security forces were tracking a group of terrorists in the forest belts of Rajouri through digital intervention for the last one month.
“We got inputs from Thanamandi and a contact was established with the terrorists, resulting in an encounter in the forest belt,” he said.
Three to four terrorists, including two foreign nationals were hiding in the forest area of Thanamandi, he said, adding, “We feel they had moved from Kashmir to this side.”
Superintendent of police (SP), Rajouri Sheema Nabi Qasba, who is supervising the operation, confirmed that there was contact followed by an exchange of fire.