7 foreigners among 14 terrorists killed in Kashmir since Jan 1

Srinagar, Jan 13 (IANS) Fourteen terrorists have been killed since January 1 out of which seven were foreign nationals, including the one killed at the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara, Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Vijay Kumar said on Thursday

While interacting with media in Kulgam after the killing of Pakistani terrorist Babar Bhai linked with proscribed terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohmmad, the IG Kashmir said the owner and his family with whom the slain terrorist was hiding, had deliberately misled the search team by saying that no terrorist was hiding in their house which led to collateral damage. Therefore, action under the terror law will be taken against them.

Police said based on specific input regarding the presence of a terrorist in the Pariwan area of Kulgam, a joint cordon and search operation was launched Wednesday evening by the police and Army (34RR).

During the search operation, as the joint search party approached towards the suspected spot, the hiding terrorist fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated leading to a gunfight.

However, while evacuating the civilians from the encounter site to safer places, one police personnel, three army soldiers and two civilians got injured.

"All the injured were immediately shifted to the hospital for treatment. However, police personnel SgCt Rohit Chibb succumbed to his injuries and attained martyrdom. The condition of other injured, including two civilians who had sustained minor injuries is stated to be stable," police said.

In the ensuing encounter, one top Pakistani JeM terrorist Babar Bhai was killed and his body was retrieved from the site of encounter.

"As per police records, the killed terrorist was a categorised terrorist active since year 2018 in the areas of Shopian-Kulgam and its adjoining areas. He was wanted by law in several terror crime cases," police said.

Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition, including one AK-47 rifle, one pistol and two grenades were also recovered from the site of encounter. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation.

Police have registered a case and investigation has been initiated.