SRINAGAR: A day after the police recovered the bullet-riddled body of constable Saleem Shah of the J&K Police, the security forces killed three terrorists, including one from Pakistan , in an encounter on Sunday morning. The encounter took place in Kulgam district of South Kashmir.

According to a police spokesman, the slain militants were responsible for the killing of Saleem, who was abducted on Friday evening from his home and whose body was recovered from a nearby village on Saturday.

“In the wee hours of Sunday, a joint patrol of security forces launched searches in the Redwani area of Kulgam district after receiving credible inputs about the presence of the terrorists in a cluster of houses,” the spokesman said.

As the security forces advanced, the terrorists holed up in the houses opened fire, resulting in a brief encounter in which the trio was killed. No collateral damage occurred during the encounter, the spokesman added.

“On the basis of the incriminating materials seized from the spot, the killed terrorists were identified as Muawiya from Pakistan, Suhail Ahmad Dar of Redwani Balaa and Mudassar alias Rehaan of Katarsoo village -- all involved in the killing of constable Saleem. As per police records, the terrorists were affiliated to proscribed terror outfits Lashkar-e-Taeba and Hizbul Mujahideen ,” he said.

Pakistani terrorist Mauwiya was involved in a number of civilian killings in J&K. Suhail, who was working as a labourer earlier, had later joined terrorist ranks, the spokesman said, adding that some arms and ammunition, including two AK-47 rifles and a carbine, were recovered from the site of the encounter.

Thousands of people joined the funeral of the two local militants in Kulgam while the body of the Pakistani terrorist was taken to Uri for last rites. The police said one civilian was injured after militants, who had mingled with the crowd, offered a gun salute to their slain local associates during the funeral procession.

The police claimed that while offering gun salute, the militants misfired, inflicting a bullet wound in the leg of Fayaz Ahmed, a resident of Shigan Pora in Kulgam. Fayaz was immediately shifted to Kulgam Hospital for treatment.

Meanwhile, a firing incident was reported during a cordon-and-search operation in Shumriyal forest area of Lolab in North Kashmir's Kupwara district in the wee hours of Sunday. Reports said that some gunshots were heard in the forests when the Army's 28 RR search party was moving through the area.

Kupwara SSP Ambarkar Shriram Dinkar said the search party was fired upon by a group of militants in the forests, leading to a brief exchange of gunfire. The entire area was under cordon and searches were underway to trace the militants, Dinkar added.

