Terrorist killed, soldier injured in Kulgam encounter

SRINAGAR: A terrorist was killed and a soldier was injured in an exchange of fire between security forces and terrorists during an anti-insurgency operation at Arwani area of south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Monday.
The slain terrorist has been identified as Shahid Khar from Kulgam’s Redwani area. He had gone missing earlier this month and joined terror ranks. Police are yet to ascertain Khar’s affiliation.
With Khar’s death, 16 terrorists including JeM chief Yasir have been killed in 6 encounters while nine terrorists including Hizbul Mujahideen division commander Naveed Mushtaq — who was a former SPO with J&K Police — have been arrested in Kashmir in the last 28 days since Vijay Kumar took over as IGP Kashmir.
Based on intelligence inputs, a joint team of security personnel had launched a cordon-and-search operation in Arwani village when holed-up terrorists opened fire at the search party, triggering an encounter. “In the ensuing gunbattle, which lasted for approximately five minutes, Khar was killed while a soldier of Army’s 1 RR — identified as Shareefuddin — was injured,” said an official.
The firefight ended soon after, following which the security forces intensified the cordon-and-search operation to trace the attackers. The exercise continued in the area till the filing of this report.