RAJOURI ENCOUNTER ENDS AFTER 30 HOURS | Top LeT commander among 2 terrorists killed; death toll 7

Rajouri, Nov 23: The 30-hour long encounter at Baaji Maal in Kalakote sub division of Rajouri district ended on Thursday after the security forces killed both the terrorists, including a top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander.

Official sources stated that he had been involved in many terror- related incidents in Rajouri and Poonch during the last one year.
Meanwhile, the army lost five of its personnel, including two officers, in the encounter while three others, including an officer, sustained critical injuries.
The encounter started on Wednesday morning at around 9 am when a Cordon and Search Operation (CASO) was going on in Baaji Maal, Jabbar, Kote Kabu villages of Kalakote sub division following reports of suspicious movement and contact was established between terrorists and forces.

“During encounter on Wednesday, two army captains and two other ranks were hit with bullets and they later succumbed to injuries. Three army personnel, including an army officer, were injured also. They all are under treatment in a tertiary care hospital of the army,” official sources said.
Heavy exchange of gunfire continued during the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday, they said.

“The gunfight continued throughout the day on Thursday, for the second consecutive day. In the evening, the encounter came to an end, after thirty hours, with the elimination of both the terrorists,” official sources said.
“One of the slain terrorists was a highly ranked terrorist leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba. He was a Pak national and hard-core terrorist. He had been trained on the Pak and Afghan front,” official sources said.

They said that in the exchange of fire this afternoon, an army soldier sustained injuries. He, later, succumbed to his injuries thus taking the number of army casualties to five.

The official sources said that the bodies of both the terrorists were recovered from the encounter site and were shifted by police teams for necessary medico-legal formalities.

In an official statement, Indian army identified five personnel, who made supreme sacrifice in the line of duty, as Captain M V Pranjal from Mangalore, Karnataka; Captain Shubham Gupta from Agra, UP; Havildar Abdul Majid from Ajote, Poonch; Lance Naik Sanjay Bisht from Nainital, Uttarakhand and paratrooper Sachin Laur from Aligarh, UP.