New Delhi: Three militants belonging to the Lashkar e Taiba (LeT) group were gunned down in an overnight encounter with the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district, said the police on Sunday, reported news agency PTI.  


The latest encounter has taken the tally of total terrorists killed in the vallley so far this year to 99, as per the report. 


A police spokesperson said acting on specific information regarding the presence of terrorists in Pulwama's Drabgam village, a cordon-and-search operation was launched by the security forces in the area on Saturday.


As the security personnel approached the suspected spot, the terrorists hiding there fired indiscriminately upon them, which was retaliated effectively, leading to an encounter, he added.


In the ensuing gunbattle, three local terrorists of proscribed outfit LeT were killed and their bodies retrieved from the site of the encounter, the spokesperson said.


The slain terrorists were identified as Junaid Ahmad Sheergojri of Gadoora in Pulwama, Fazil Nazir Bhat of Drabgam in Pulwama and Irfan Ahmad Malik of Arabal Nikas in Pulwama.


As per police records, all three were part of groups involved in several terror crime cases, including attacks on police and other security forces and civilian atrocities, the 


Sheergojri, along with his associate Abid Hussain Shah of Monghama in Pulwama, who was killed on May 30, was involved in the killing of police personnel Reyaz Ahmad at his house on May 13, he added.


"He was also involved in the June 2 attack on labourers at a brick kiln in Chadoora on the outskirts of the Pulwama-Budgam axis, in which one labourer was killed and others were injured," the spokesperson said.


The spokesperson said that incriminating materials, arms and ammunition, including two AK-47 rifles and a pistol, were recovered from the encounter site. All the recovered materials have been taken into the case records for further investigation.


Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir Vijay Kumar congratulated the security forces for carrying out the anti-terrorist operation in a professional manner and without any collateral damage.


Kumar also lauded them for tracking and neutralising the terrorists involved in the recent killing of police personnel in Pulwama.


The IGP said 99 terrorists have so far been killed in the valley this year.