Three Lashkar militants killed, Army officer injured

Srinagar: Three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants were killed and an Army officer was injured in an encounter at the south Kashmir district of Pulwama, official sources said here this morning. Meanwhile, all educational institutions will remain closed in Pulwama today. They said a search operation was launched by the Army and the Special Operation Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir, following a tip-off about the presence of militants at Kakapora in Pulwama, late last night. However, when security forces were moving towards a particular area, militants hiding there fired at them with automatic weapons.

The security forces also retaliated ensuing in an encounter, they said, adding that an Army Major was injured in the initial exchange of fire. The injured was admitted to the hospital. The intermittent firing continued during the night, they said, adding that three local militants of LeT were reportedly killed in the encounter. Some arms and ammunition were recovered from the encounter site.

Three AK rifles and other arms and ammunition were recovered from the slain militants. Recently six police personnel, including the Station House Officer (SHO) were killed by the LeT militants in Anantnag district of Achabal area. Police said Bashir Lashkeri was involved in the killing of policemen. Two Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) militants were killed in Sopore area of north Kashmir, early yesterday. (UNI)