Two militants killed in Pulwama, a day after Lal Chowk encounter in J-K

Pulwama (Jammu and Kashmir), Jan 8 (ANI): A day after the end of 22-hour encounter of two terrorists at Srinagar's Lal Chowk, two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants were shot dead during a four-hour encounter near Pulwama in Kashmir Valley on Friday.

It was the second encounter in the Valley within last 48 hours.

According to Awantipura Superintendent of Police Basheer Khan, the slain terrorists have been identified as Altaf and Zafoor.

Acting on specific information, security forces launched a combing operation in village Andrusa. Just as the security forces zeroed in, the militants, whose number could not be ascertained, opened fire at them prompting the security forces to retaliate.

"The terrorists were asked to lay down their arms and surrender but they continued to fire with their automatic weapons, which was retaliated against and in the melee the two terrorists got killed," Khan said.

He added that Altaf had been known to be involved in several previous attacks including one car blast outside the central jail in Srinagar and an attack on a constable and an SPO in Pampore town in which the SPO was martyred.

"Likewise Zafoor was also involved in many past encounters and today we have been able to get rid of them,"Khan said.

The terrorists were holed up in a house in Pulwama's Andrusa village which falls under Pampore, and refused to lay down their arms and began firing at the Border Security Force (BSF). (ANI)