Terrorist killed in Sopore gun battle; operation underway

SRINAGAR: A joint team of security forces gunned down a terrorist during an anti-terror operation in Rampora area of Sopore in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district Saturday evening. Till the time of going to press, searches continued in the area to smoke out holed-up terrorists, believed to be two-three in number.
This was the second gunfight in Sopore sub-division in less than 24 hours and came a day after the killing of two terrorists in Sagipora area Friday. This was also the fourth such encounter in north Kashmir in five days. Earlier this week, Bandipora and Kupwara districts saw similar operations in which a terrorist each was killed. As many as eight terrorists have been shot dead since the start of this month.
While official sources said the terrorist slain in Rampora was Pakistani, a top cop said the identity would be known after the operation concluded.
Earlier on Saturday, a joint team of the Army, CRPF and J&K Police launched a cordon-and-search operation in Rampora based on intelligence inputs about the presence of terrorists there. As the security forces near the suspected hideout, holed-up terrorists rained bullets on the search party, triggering a firefight.