India gunbattle kills 2 terrorists, soldier

Two terrorists and an Indian soldier were killed in a gun battle in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir today, police said.

Acting on information about presence of terrorists in Bijbehara area of the south Kashmir district, security forces launched a cordon and search operation this morning.

The search turned into an encounter when the terrorists opened fire on security forces who retaliated, our New Delhi correspondent reports.

A trooper was injured in the gun battle, a police official said, adding he succumbed in hospital.

The exchange of fire was going on when last reports came in.

On Monday, an Indian Army major was killed and another officer and two troopers were injured in an encounter with terrorists in the district's Achabal area.

The same day, terrorists also targeted an Army patrol unit with a vehicle fitted with an improvised explosive device in Pulwama district. Nine security personnel and two civilians were injured.

The site of the blast was 27 km from the area where a convoy of vehicles carrying paramilitary personnel was attacked by a suicide bomber of Jaish-e-Mohmmed terror group in February in which 40 people were killed.

Last week, a lone Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist attacked a patrol team of the paramilitary force in Anantnag, killing five CRPF personnel. Ends