On Wednesday, 2 terrorists were killed in an encounter with a joint team of police and security forces in the Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir. After obtaining intelligence concerning the presence of terrorists, security personnel conducted a search-and-cordon operation in the Dragad neighbourhood of Shopian earlier in the day. Adil Wani, a deceased terrorist who has been active since July 2020 who was involved in the assassination of a poor labourer in Litter, Pulwama, has been recognised as 1 of the slain terrorists.
The search operation escalated into an encounter after terrorists opened fire on a joint team of police and security services, who responded with retaliatory gunfire. The 2 terrorists were killed in the ensuing operation, according to officials. The identity and organisation affiliation of the other killed terrorist has yet to be determined, police officials added that an investigation is underway. Last week, prominent Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Umar Mushtaq Khandey was neutralized in the Pulwama area of Jammu and Kashmir during a similar encounter. He is suspected of being involved in the death of 2 police officers at Baghat in Srinagar, earlier this year.
According to inspector-general of police (Kashmir) Vijay Kumar, 15 terrorists have been killed so far in 8 encounters undertaken by security personnel in the aftermath of the recent civilian killings in Jammu and Kashmir. Several terrorists had run away to south Kashmir after killing civilians.