Anantnag: A brief exchange of fire occurred late night on Friday between terrorists and security forces in Kokarnag area of the Anantnag district in Jammu and Kashmir. As per initial reports, at around 2 am a joint team of forces including special operations group (SOG) of police and 19 RR of army laid a siege around Tangpawa village of Kokernag in Anantnag and started cordon and search operation (CASO). When the search operation was in progress, militants hiding in the village opened random fire upon the government forces. “The forces retaliated to the fire. The exchange of fire continued for some time,” an official aware of the incident told ABP News.

No injuries or loss of lives has been reported so far. There is complete silence in the area at the moment and operation is on in the area. According to security forces, at least three militants are believed to be trapped in the village. Meanwhile, authorities have snapped mobile internet service in the area amid apprehensions of law and order.

With this, the total number of encounters in the state has reached nine in less than 72 hours. In a similar encounter yesterday, two terrorists were killed by security forces in Anantnag. According to Jammu and Kashmir Police, the terrorists were identified as Pakistani nationals and incriminating materials were recovered from the site of the encounter. They have been identified as Ali and Idrees.

A cordon and search operation was launched on Friday morning by the police and security forces based on credible inputs about the presence of terrorists in Sutsoo Kalan area of Nowgam village in the outskirts of Srinagar. Two Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists were killed in yet another encounter which took place in Budgam district. During the encounter, five security forces were injured. A US-made M4 sniper rifle and an AK47 was also recovered.