Days after security forces killed the terrorists responsible for the April 22 Pahalgam terror assault, two terrorists were shot dead in an encounter in Poonch, Jammu and Kashmir, this morning.
NDTV reported that, according to information obtained, the terrorists were members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist organisation.
Earlier this morning, the Army's White Knight Corps observed the suspicious movement of two persons in the Poonch sector, as posted on X. "Suspected movement of two individuals was observed by own troops along the fence in gen area of Poonch Sector. Gunfire exchanged. Operation under progress," it said.
PTI had reported that the alert troops saw the movement of infiltrating terrorists in the general area of Maldivalan in Degwar sector late Tuesday night, leading to an encounter, the officials said.
They said two terrorists fell after being hit during the gunfight, but it was not immediately clear whether they were dead or injured.
Nalin Prabhat, the Director General of Police for Jammu and Kashmir, told NDTV that two terrorists who had sneaked into India were killed in the battle with security personnel.
The Poonch encounter occurs two days after an encounter near Srinagar claimed the lives of three terrorists implicated in the Pahalgam attack, which claimed the lives of 26 innocent people.
Parliament Op.Sindoor Debate
During the discussion on Operation Sindoor yesterday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah informed the Parliament that the three terrorists killed in Operation Mahadev—Jibran, Afghani, and Suleiman—are responsible for the cold-blooded shooting deaths of innocent people in the Baisaran Valley of Pahalgam on April 22.
The Home Minister described how the government verified that these three terrorists were responsible for the Pahalgam incident, saying, "NIA earlier arrested those who sheltered these terrorists. When their bodies were brought to Srinagar, we got them to identify the bodies."
"There is no room for doubt. I am holding the ballistic report, six scientists have cross-checked it and confirmed to me over video call that the bullets fired at Pahalgam and the bullets fired from these guns are a 100 per cent match," he said.
He added that forensic reports of bullet shells recovered from the Pahalgam attack site were used. "After these terrorists were killed, their rifles were seized. One was an M9, the other two were AK-47s. We got these rifles flown to Chandigarh central FSL (forensic science laboratory) on a special plane. We generated empty bullet shells by firing these rifles and then matched them with those found in Pahalgam. It was then confirmed that these three rifles were used to murder our innocent civilians," said Shah.
