J&K: Three terrorists gunned down in encounter at Shopian's Turkwangam

A counter-terrorism operation, launched on the tip-off of the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Police, once again turned out to be successful as three terrorists were gunned down after a search-and-cordon operation in the orchards of the Turkwangam village in south Kashmir's Shopian district earlier today. 

A top police official said, “Three terrorists have been killed so far in the encounter. One more militant could be hiding in the area. The operation is still in progress." 

The official added that on Monday midnight, a cordon-and-search operation was launched in Turkwangam by a joint team of the J&K Police, the Indian Army's 44 Rashtriya Rifles (RR), and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). When the suspected area was cordoned off,  the terrorists who were in hiding were asked to surrender, said the police official, adding that the terrorists, however, fired upon the search party thus triggering an encounter. 

Three terrorists have been killed and their bodies retrieved. Currently, the identities of the slain terrorists are being ascertained.

One of these terrorists has now been identified as one Kamran Zahoor Manhas of Shadab Karewa. The Indian Army today said that the commanding officer the 44 RR, Colonel AK Singh, had even tried to call Kamran back into the mainstream, even visiting his house himself and talking to his family but Kamran reportedly paid no heed to these appeals and did not return.

IG Police Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, said, "Three terrorists were killed in the encounter. We will ask people, who are claiming to be their parents, to come and identify the bodies. It was a clean operation, there was no collateral damage."

He added that 94 terrorists have been killed in the year 2020. "Our focus now will be on north Kashmir," he said.

An army statement on this day read, "Op Turkawangam (Shopian). Three terrorists eliminated. Two AK-47 and one INSAS recovered till now. Joint Operation in progress."

Pertinently 23 terrorists, including the three terrorists gunned down in today's ongoing encounter, have so far been killed in the Shopian district this month. The death toll of terrorists in the region is now 98.