india

Updated: May 12, 2019 23:47 IST

Two members of Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district on Sunday, police officials familiar with the matter said.

According to security officials, the forces launched a cordon-and-search operation on Sunday morning after receiving a tip-off about the presence of terrorists in the district’s Hend-Sitapur area.

“During the search operation, the hiding terrorists opened fire on the search party. In the ensuing encounter, two terrorists were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the encounter site,” police spokesperson Manoj Kumar said.

Police identified the slain LeT members as Javid Ahmad Bhat of J&K’s Redwani and Adil Bashir Wani of state’s Waripora village.

“They [Bhat and Wani] were wanted for their complicity in a series of terror crimes, including attacks on security establishments and civilian atrocities. Several terror cases were registered against them,” a police statement said.

The police urged residents of the area to stay away from the encounter site till the area was cleared of all explosive material. On 21 October 2018, seven civilians were killed after a stray explosive burst at the site of an encounter in Jammu & Kashmir’s Kulgam.