Five Terrorists Killed In Overnight Encounter In Jammu & Kashmir's Kulgam

Five terrorists have been killed in an ongoing encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam, police said Friday. Authorities said incriminating materials had been recovered and the operation - a joint effort between police and the CRPF - is in its final stages. "Area is being sanitised," the police said on X.

Inspector-General of Police Vidhi Kumar Birdi told news agency ANI the five may have been from the Lashkar-e-Taiba group. "Security forces got an intelligence input regarding the movement of some terrorists in Kulgam. During the search operation, a terrorist fired from a house, after which an encounter broke out. So far, five terrorists, possibly LeT have been killed and some bodies sighted..."

The joint op also involves the Army's 34 Rashtriya Riffles and 9 Para (an elite Special Forces unit).

The encounter with the terrorists began Thursday afternoon in the Samno pocket of Kulgam district's DH Pora town, police told news agency PTI.

Officials said security forces had launched a cordon-and-search operation in Kulgam's Nehama village after information about the presence of terrorists in the area. The cordon-and-search op turned into a gunfight after the cornered terrorists opened fire at the security personnel.

Security forces maintained a tight overnight cordon around the area, officials said.

On Wednesday two terrorists were killed in J&K's Uri and an infiltration attempt was thwarted after 'Operation Kali', a joint effort by local police and the Army. The Army said the two killed included Bashir Ahmed Malik, an important cog in Pakistan-backed cross-border terrorism in the area.

Two assault rifles, two pistols, four hand grenades and other weapons were recovered.

This was the second bid to infiltrate the same region.

With input from agencies