Three terrorists killed in encounter in south Kashmir

Three local militants, who had joined terror groups recently, were killed on Wednesday in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district, officials said.

The encounter broke out at Pazalpora area in Anantnag on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday on a specific intelligence provided by the district police.

All the three militants have been neutralised, the officials said.

A police team, along with other security forces, laid a cordon and search in the area. It had a pinpointed information where the three militants were holed up, officials said.

It approached a house whose owner resisted saying that no one was present at their premises, but not agreeing to the landlord, the team carried on with their operation, they said.

The holed up militants first fired at around 02.30 AM after which the police retaliated effectively.

In the encounter, the entire house came down due to the gun fight, they said, adding that the bodies have been handed over to the families for their burial.

The oldest among the three was Nasir Gulzar Chadroo alias Abu Hannan, a resident of Bijbehara in Anantnag district, who had joined the banned Lashker-e-Taiba terror outfit in September last year.

The other two were identified as Zahid Ahmad Lone and Aaqib Ahmad Hajam.

While Lone, also a resident of Bijbehara, had joined the terror outfit in July, Hajam, a resident of Redhwani in Kulgam district of south Kashmir, had joined militancy in April. All the three were in their early 20's.