A day after a terrorist attack in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir which led to the arrest of Pakistani terrorist Usman Khan, an encounter has begun between security forces and terrorists in Pulwama district of the state.
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Police sources said that after receiving inputs about the presence of two Lashkar-e-Toiba militants present in a house at Astan Mohalla Kakapora, a huge contingent of Army personnel from 50 RR, CRPF personnel from 182 and 183 Battalions and SOG Pulwama cordoned off the house of one Ghulam Muhammad.
Reports and witnesses said that hundreds of mourners tried to head towards the Kakpora where Talib was killed Thursday evening after a brief encounter with armed forces.
A handout issued by the police here confirmed the death of LeT commander Talib Afzal Hussein Shah alias Omar, a highly-educated militant who had been active in the area for the past three years, including attacks on BSF, CRPF, the Railway and J&K police.
A J&K Police officer said a group of four to five militants struck at the police post at about 9 pm.
The official said that all efforts are on to either capture the associate of Talib alive or neutralize him. “He is still fighting but we have closed all the escape routes”, he said.
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The two militants managed to escape from the area, taking advantage of the darkness, following which the search operation was called off on Friday morning. In the ensuing clashes, a protester identified as Lateef Ahmad of Qazigund Pulwama, was injured after a teargas shell hit his abdomen. The holed up militants were still firing on the forces at the time of filing this report.
