LeT terrorist surrenders in J-K's Shopian encounter, unidentified terrorist killed

One unidentified terrorist was killed and another terrorist of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) surrendered in an ongoing encounter with security forces in the Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday.

Srinagar: A militant was killed while another surrendered during an encounter with security forces in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, police said. Security forces launched a cordon-and-search operation in the Hanjipora area of Shopian district following information about presence of militants there, a police official said.

He said the search operation turned into an encounter after militants opened fire on the security forces personnel, drawing retaliation. In the ensuing gunfight, a militant was killed, the official said. He said the identity and group affiliation of the slain militant are being ascertained.

During the operation, another militant surrendered before the forces, the official said. He identified the militant as Sahil Ramzan Dar, a resident of Shopian. The operation was underway till last reports came in, the official added.

The terrorist killed in south Kashmir's Shopian district in an encounter between militants and security forces on Wednesday had refused to surrender, officials said. Based on a specific input regarding the presence of terrorists in the orchards of the Shirmal area in Shopian, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by the police, the army and the CRPF, the police said.

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"During the operation, the terrorists were given an opportunity to surrender, but they fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party, which was retaliated leading to an encounter," the police said. The police said that in the ensuing encounter, one terrorist was killed and his body was retrieved from the site of the encounter. The slain terrorist has been identified as Sajad Ahmad Bhat, son of Ghulam Qadir Bhat, a resident of Badigam Aishmuqam Anantnag. He was linked to the proscribed terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen.

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The police said that as per their records, the slain terrorist was active since 2020 and was involved in several terror crime cases. Arms and ammunition, including one pistol with magazine, one grenade and other incriminating materials were recovered from the encounter site."All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation and to probe Bhat's complicity in other terror crimes. During the search operation, one terrorist hideout was also destroyed," the police said.

ANI