Jammu and Kashmir: Two terrorists killed in Bandipora' Hajin, search operation on

Two terrorists were killed in Hajin area of Bandipora district in Jammu and Kashmir after a gunfight took place in the area on Thursday. The terrorists have been identified. While one of them is a member of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) Ali Bhai, the other is a local terrorist Iskantru.

The security forces, with the help of locals, on Thursday had rescued one of the two civilians held "hostage" by terrorists after a search operation in the Mir Mohalla area, police had said. The encounter started around 10 am on Thursday and search operations are still going on.

Hajin area was once considered a zone "liberated" from the terrorist control in Bandipora.

Police had said that the security forces had started a cordon and search operation in the area following intelligence inputs about the presence of terrorists there. The terrorists who were in hiding opened fire at the security forces, sparking off the gunfight.

In another encounter in Baramulla district, one of the two terrorists killed in an encounter on Thursday was a Pakistani national, claimed the police. Both the terrorists were the member of the proscribed terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). The other terrorist has been identified as Aamir Rasool, a resident of Sopore. An encounter broke out on Thursday when a troop of 176 Battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) along with SOG and Rashtriya Rifles (RR) were carrying out a search operation in the vicinity.

"On the basis of incriminating material recovered at the site of the encounter, it is understood that one of the terrorists who was killed (yesterday) is a Pakistani national," said the police press release.

"They were wanted by law for their complicity in a series of terror crimes including an attack on security establishments and civilian atrocities. They were involved in conspiring and executing many terror attacks in the area. Several terror crime cases were registered against both the terrorists," it added.