Two terrorists were killed and three Indian Army soldiers were injured during an encounter between the militants and security forces at Naina Batpora area in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, the police said on Thursday.

The Indian Army said that based on specific intelligence inputs received from J&K Police regarding the movement of unidentified terrorists at Batpora village in Pulwama, the army along with the police and CRPF launched a cordon and search operation on Thursday.

“The security forces established an initial cordon comprising 25 houses. During the search, it was discovered that the terrorists had taken shelter inside a mosque. They were seen hiding on the top floor of the minaret of the mosque. Simultaneously, civilians from nearby houses were evacuated. The security forces maintained continuous surveillance on the movement of the terrorists,” the army said.

The army said that at 10:10 a.m., the terrorists opened indiscriminate fire and lobbed grenades from the top of the minaret onto the troops.

“Fire was retaliated upon by our troops who had occupied dominating positions, resulting in the neutralisation of two terrorists. Earlier, the grenade lobbing by the terrorists caused splinter injuries to three soldiers of the Indian Army,” the army added.

(The story has been published via a syndicated feed.)