'2 terrorists killed in J&K were trying to revive terror folds'

Srinagar, April 6 (IANS) Two terrorists killed on Wednesday in an encounter between terrorists and security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district were attempting to revive terror folds, officials said on Wednesday

The terrorists, identified as Muzaffar Sofi of Ansar Gazwatul Hind (AGuH) and Umer Teli of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were killed in Tral area of Awantipora.

Both were involved in many terror crimes, and active in Srinagar before shifting to Tral in Pulwama.

The police said that based on a specific input generated by Ganderbal police regarding the presence of terrorists in Tral area, a raid was conducted by Awantipora police.

"During the raid, as the search party proceeded towards the suspected spot, the hiding terrorists fired indiscriminately upon the search party which was retaliated effectively leading to an encounter," police said.

"In the ensuing encounter, one terrorist was neutralized and another was holed up. Meanwhile, reinforcement of Army (42RR) and 180Bn CRPF reached the encounter site and joined the operation. The joint team later neutralized the second holed up terrorist and the bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter."

"As per police records, both were linked with proscribed terror outfits AGuH and LeT, and involved in several terror crime cases including attacks on police/ security forces and civilian atrocities. Before shifting to Tral area, both the killed terrorists were involved in several terror crimes in Srinagar city including recent killing of sarpanch (Sameer Ahmad) in Khanmoh, Srinagar. Besides, Muzaffar Sofi was also involved in grenade throwing on a CRPF camp on March 19.

"Moreover, both the killed terrorists were attempting to revive the terror folds by being instrumental in motivating gullible youth to join terror folds," a police officer said.

Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of the encounter.