Two terrorists, one of whom is believed to be the mastermind of February 14 terror attack on CRPF, were killed here on Monday in a fierce encounter in which four Army personnel, including a Major, and a civilian also lost their lives, police sources said. Among the dead terrorists is suspected to be Kamran alias Ghazi, a Pakistani commander of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) believed to be behind the deadly attack of last Thursday in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed in this district, the sources told ANI.
Kamran, who is considered to be a close aide of JeM chief Masood Azhar, had crossed over to Kashmir from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in December last year, the sources added. He had been sent by Azhar to increase the terror incidents and involve locals in it. The other terrorist killed in the encounter is a local, identified as Hilal, the sources said. The encounter in Pinglena area of Pulwama district in south Kashmir was triggered after the security forces launched a cordon-and-search operation late last night following credible inputs about the presence of terrorists in the area. the police said. As the searches were going on, terrorists started firing indiscriminately on the search party from a house, the police said. In the initial burst of fire, four army personnel and one civilian sustained critical gunshot injuries.
“They were evacuated to hospital for medical attention. Consequently, four injured jawans attained martyrdom and the civilian also succumbed to his injuries. The brave hearts have been identified as Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal, Hawaldar Sheo Ram, Sepoy Hari Singh and Sepoy Ajay Kumar,” said a press release issued by the Jammu and Kashmir Police..
