SRINAGAR: Security forces on Thursday continued a massive anti-militancy operation in south Kashmir’s Shopian district to trace a second suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant, a day after an LeT commander was killed in an encounter. The operation has now entered its sixth consecutive day.
Joint teams of the Army, Jammu and Kashmir Police and the CRPF intensified searches in the Meemandar–Chanapora area, where the operation was launched on July 4 following specific intelligence inputs about the presence of two LeT militants.
Officials said security forces and the militants exchanged fire twice during the operation—first on Saturday evening and again on Wednesday morning.
“Searches are continuing to trace the second terrorist, who is believed to be hiding in the area,” an official said.
On Wednesday, security forces killed local LeT commander Zakir Ahmad Ganai during the operation. Ganai, a resident of Motalhama village in Kulgam district, had joined the terror outfit in September 2023, officials said.
Officials said the operation in Shopian would continue until the area is completely sanitised and the remaining militants is either apprehended or neutralised.
