Poonch: Two militants were killed in a gunfight near Dugran Poshana area along the Mughal Road in Poonch district on Sunday. One militant was also arrested, official sources said.
Police said the slain militants were identified as Sajid and Bilal — both from Pakistan and affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
“Two terrorists killed, one associate arrested at Poshana area in Poonch in a joint operation by J&K Police, Army and CRPF,” IGP Jammu said in a tweet.
“The two Pakistani terrorists of LeT outfit who were gunned down at Poshana area in Poonch have been identified as Sajid and Bilal. Two AK 47 rifles, one UBGL and one Thuraya Satphone have been recovered from their possession,” he said in another tweet.
Director General of Police, Dilbag Singh, said that these militants had recently infiltrated into this part of Kashmir and were on way to Shopian district of south Kashmir.
“We had received the information about their presence on Friday but due to difficult terrain and snow, the contact with these militants was not established. Today a contact was established,” Singh said.
Earlier, officials had said that police and army’s 16 RR had launched a cordon-and-search-operation (CASO) soon after a family of a 46-year-old man, Talib Hussein, son of Ghulam Hussein, a resident of Chie in Dogrian Bufliaz, had filed a missing report. Talib, as per official sources, has been missing since December 9.
The family had told police that Talib went to get gravel from a nearby river but has not returned.
At the beginning of the operation, militants were given an offer to surrender which they turned down.
The 84-kilometre road historic Mughal Road is the road between Bufliaz town in Poonch district and Shopian district.
A couple of days ago, joint forces had busted a militant hideout in the upper forest belt of Herpora Shopian along the Mughal Road.
An official said that since the busting of the hideout, intensive search operations were launched in different parts of the road by joint forces and contact with the militants was established today in Dugran-Poshana Chatta-Pani area that falls under the jurisdiction of Police Station Surankote in Poonch.
With inputs from KNT and GNS
