Four militants were killed in an encounter with security forces near Ban Toll Plaza along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway near Nagrota on Thursday morning.
According to senior police officers, the slain militants owed allegiance to Jaish-e-Mohammad and they were a fresh group having infiltrated into the Union Territory from across the International Border in Samba sector.
According to Director General of Police Dalbagh Singh, the slain terrorists had infiltrated last evening and they were on way to Kashmir along with huge quantity of arms and ammunition to disrupt the coming District Development Council polls and panchayat by-elections.
The encounter began when the militants, hiding in a truck, threw grenade on security personnel during checking around 5 am. In a swift retaliation, police and CRPF personnel deployed at Ban Toll Plaza killed two militants when they were trying to come out of the truck to take position.
The truck was on way to Kashmir. During the encounter, a blast took place inside the truck indicating that the militants were carrying with them huge quantity of arms and ammunition.
Two personnel of Special Operation Group of Jammu Kashmir Police also injured. They were identified as Kuldeep Raj (32) of Akhnoor and Mohammad Ishaq Malik (40) of Neel Qasim Banihal Ramban. Both have been admitted in GMC Jammu and their condition was stated to be stable.
Earlier on January 31 this year, a group of militants had opened fire at a police team near Ban Toll Plaza, triggering a gunfight in which three ultras were killed and a policeman was injured. They too had reportedly come from Pakistan through an underground cross border tunnel in Samba sector which was later detected by BSF.
