After killing a Pakistani terrorist on Friday morning, security forces eliminated two others in the Naidgam forests of Chatroo in Kishtwar district, officials said.
The killed terrorists were identified as Jaish-e-Mohammad commander Saifullah, Farman, and Basha.
Each carried a reward of ₹5 lakh on their heads.
“Security forces launched an operation in the area on April 9. We first gunned down one terrorist in the morning, and then eliminated two others later on Friday,” said a senior police officer.
Commandos from the elite 2, 5, and 9 Para of the Army, CRPF, and the SOG of Jammu and Kashmir Police were involved in the operation.
The anti-terror operations were conducted in the snow-covered mountains with dense forest cover.
“The Army deployed helicopters to trace the fleeing terrorists,” said the officer.
A large quantity of arms, ammunition, and explosives was recovered from the encounter site.
Brigadier JVS Rathi, commander of the 5 Sector Assam Rifles, and DIG Shridhar Patil of the Doda-Kishtwar-Ramban range will brief the media about the entire operation at the 5 Assam Rifles headquarters on Saturday.
Security forces have also launched simultaneous anti-terror operations in Udhampur and Kishtwar districts to track down terrorists, believed to be part of a larger group that infiltrated through the international border in the Hiranagar sector of Kathua district in recent times.
Amid ongoing anti-terror operations, a group of three armed terrorists, believed to be from the Jaish-e-Mohammad terror outfit, barged into a villager’s house in Basantgarh, Udhampur district, late Wednesday. The terrorists ate food, took a mobile phone, clothes, shoes, a bag, and an umbrella before leaving.
Earlier, on April 3, two terrorists had entered a house in Udhampur’s Chore Panjwa-Khabbal area in Majalta block, held the family hostage, and forcibly took a mobile phone and food before fleeing around 10 PM.
This is the same area where security forces had sighted terrorists on April 3.
The terrorists were initially spotted in a forest in Saniyal village of the Hiranagar sector on March 23.
Police and security forces have been tracking the terrorists’ movements since then.
Two terrorists and four policemen were killed in an encounter on March 27 in Sufain forest near Jakhole village, Kathua district.
