3 terrorists killed, army officer injured in Kashmir encounter

Three terrorists were killed and one army officer was injured in an encounter with security forces at Zolwa Kralpora Chadoora in central Kashmir's Budgam district, officials said on Friday.

The police said that based on specific inputs regarding the presence of terrorists in Zolwa Chadoora village area of Budgam, a joint cordon and search operation was launched on Thursday evening by the police and the army.

During the search operation, the terrorists fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party, which was retaliated leading to an encounter. Later on, the CRPF also joined the operation.

"The joint team first evacuated all the civilians trapped around the encounter site to safer places. Besides, to avoid any collateral damage due to darkness, the operation was suspended during night hours and in the wee hours it resumed again, resulting in the elimination of three terrorists linked with proscribed terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed. During the encounter, one army officer received minor splinter injury," the police said.

One of the killed terrorists has been identified as Waseem Mir, a resident of Nowgam Srinagar, who was active since December 2020.

"As per reliable sources and documents recovered, the other two killed terrorists appear to be foreign militants. Further identifications are being ascertained," the police said.

"As per police records, the slain terrorist, Waseem, was a categorised militant and part of a group involved in several terror crime cases, including attacks on security forces and civilian atrocities. Several terror crime cases were registered against him.

"Waseem was involved in the killing of Inspector Parvaiz Ahmad in June last year. He was also involved in the grenade attack on a CRPF bunker near Aali Masjid Chowk at Eidgah Srinagar in which one civilian and one police personnel were injured. He was also involved in brainwashing and motivating the youth of Central Kashmir to join terror folds," the police said.

Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition, including three AK-56 rifles, were recovered from the site of the encounter. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation.