Srinagar: Four terrorists, including the one who was part of a group of ultras involved in the killing of Army jawan Aurangzeb last year, were on Saturday gunned down in two separate encounters in Pulwama and Baramulla districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
While three Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) terrorists were killed in a pre-dawn operation by security forces in Pulwama district of south Kashmir, fourth was killed in Sopore town of Baramulla, the police spokesman said.
He told that based on a credible input, a cordon and search operation was launched by police and security forces in the early hours of Saturday in the Panzgam area of Awantipora in Pulwama.
He further said, during the search operation, the hiding terrorists fired on the search party of the forces, who retaliated, leading to an encounter. In the ensuing encounter, three terrorists were killed.
He said that they have been identified as Showkat Dar of Panzgam, Irfan War of Wadoora Payeen, Sopore, and Muzaffar Sheikh of Tahab, Pulwama.
"All the three killed terrorists, according to the police records, were affiliated with proscribed terror outfit HM. They were wanted by law for their complicity in a series of terror crimes, including the attack on security establishments and civilian atrocities. Several terror crime cases were registered against them," he added.
As per police records, the spokesman said, Dar had a long history of terror crime records.
"He was involved in planning and executing series of terror attacks in the area and many other civilian atrocities. He was part of a group involved in the killing of Army jawan Aurangzeb in 2018. He was also involved in the killing of a policeman Aqib Ahmad Wagay last year. Several terror crime cases were registered against him," he said.
Aurangzeb was abducted and later killed by the terrorists in Pulwama in June last year while he was on his way to home in Poonch for celebrating Eid.