New Delhi: In the first incident of Army personnel dying in a gunfight with militants in Kashmir this year, a senior police officer claimed on Saturday that two soldiers and a LeT militant were killed in an encounter in south Kashmir's volatile Shopian region.
"The encounter took place after a joint search operation was launched Friday night in Chermarg in Zainpora of Shopian based on a specific intelligence input of the police about the presence of a militant there," Inspector General of Police (Kashmir Range) Vijay Kumar was quoted by PTI in its report.
Following the usual operating procedure, the security forces participating in the search operation closed in on a cluster of residences and began evacuating individuals.
When the search team arrived at Gowhar Ahmed Bhat's residence, he purposefully mislead them by denying providing sanctuary to any militant.
While Bhat was being questioned, a militant opened fire on the search team from inside the home, injuring two Army men severely.
During the subsequent shootout, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant Abdul Qayoom Dar, a resident of Laroo Kakpora in Pulwama, was neutralised, and weaponry and ammunition, including an AK -47 and a handgun, were confiscated.
The Army men who were injured died subsequently. The slain personnel were identified by the Army as Sepoys Santosh Yadav and Chavan Romit Tanaji of the 1 Rashtriya Rifles.
"A case has been registered and the house owner arrested under terror laws," Kumar said in a statement.
Dar, a LeT militant, was caught and jailed under the Public Safety Act in April 2020 following an incident at his home. He was freed in August of 2021. He did, however, continue to act as a sleeper cell for the proscribed militant organization and recently abandoned his home.
"After verifying his disappearance and joining with the banned terror outfit, the Pulwama Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) declared him as an active terrorist of the LeT outfit," Kumar said.
(With PTI Inputs)