Security forces gun down 3 terrorists in Chewa Ullar village of Jammu and Kashmir's Tral, encounter ends

Srinagar: The security forces on Friday (June 26) killed at least three terrorists during a gunbattle in Chewa Ullar village of Tral in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. According to reports, bodies of all three terrorists along with arms and ammunition were recovered from the spot. 

Reports stated that all three terrorists were local residents of the Valley. With this, the near 15-hour long gunbattle between security forces and terrorists came to an end.

The killed terrorists have been identified as Mohammad Qaasim Shah alias Jugnu, Basit Ahmad Parray and Haris Manzoor Bhat. Qaasim, a Madoora Tral resident and son of Gh Mohammad Shah, was pursuing a B.Tech Degree in Civil Engineering prior to joining militancy. He was carrying out terror-related activities in the Valley since March 2017. 

Basit Ahmad, son of Gh Mohammad Parray, was resident of Laribal, Tral. He had joined militant ranks recently, on May 27, 2020 and had a degree in Bachelor of Science in Information Technology.

Haris Manzoor Bhat, son of Manzoor Ahmad Bhat, was resident of Koil Shikragah, Tral. He had disappeared in April 2020 and was believed to have joined militancy.

The encounter between forces and terrorists in the Chewa Ullar area had started on Thursday evening but was put on hold during the night. The encounter resumed in the early morning on Friday with a fresh exchange of fire between the two sides, in which one terrorist was killed.  

Earlier today, a police official confirmed the report of the killing of one terrorist saying his body was visible at the encounter spot and searches were being carried out to nab others, if any. 

Kashmir zone police too confirmed the killing of 3 terrorists in Chewa Ullar encounter, writing "#ChewaUlarEncounterUpdate: 02 more #unidentified #terrorists killed. Search going on. Further details shall follow. @JmuKmrPolice."

On Thursday evening, after receiving a tip-off of presence on terrorist in the area, a joint team of Police, 42 RR and CRPF launched a cordon and search operation in the area. As the joint team of forces cordoned the suspected spot, the hiding militants fired upon them which was retaliated triggering an encounter an official said. 

This is 12th encounter in south Kashmir in the month of June alone in which 38 terrorists have so far been eliminated in the valley. The total number of terrorists killed in Kashmir this year is now 111.