Three Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militants, including a self-styled district commander of the outfit, were today killed in an encounter with security forces in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.
Acting on a tip off about the presence of militants in village Hanjan in Pulwama last evening, a joint team of police, Army and CRPF cordoned off the area and launched a search operation, a police spokesman said.
"The militants hiding in the area fired on the joint search party triggering an encounter. The cordon was strengthened while searches were stopped overnight," the spokesman said.
He said the exchange of firing started again this morning, when the search operation was resumed, in which three militants were killed.
The slain militants were identified as Jaish district commander Altaf Ahmad Rather, Showkat Ahmad and Farooq Ahmad. Rather was involved in many militancy related activities.
Altaf was one of the group members involved in the attack and weapon snatching incident at a police guard at Pakharpora shrine in district Budgam earlier this year, the spokesman said.
