A suspicious movement of terrorists was noticed in the forest area of Dassal Gujran on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday in a joint operation by Indian Army and police

A Pakistani terrorist was gunned down by security forces during an encounter in Dassal Gujran village, 4 kms from Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri town, on Friday, police said.

Additional director general of police (ADGP) Mukesh Singh has confirmed the development.

Army has recovered an AK 56 assault rifle, one full magazine, 60 AK rounds, four grenades, 12 detonators, an IED switch and a battery, a medical kit, two packets of cigarettes, Lahore made coconut cookies, a syringe and a lighter from the site.

Earlier, a defence spokesperson said, “In a joint operation by Indian Army and police, a suspicious movement was noticed in the forest area of Dassal Gujran on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday”.

“On being challenged by the troops, they were fired upon, which was retaliated by the troops. Sporadic firing continued through out the night,” he said.

Earlier on Thursday morning, Border Security Force (BSF) men gunned down a Pakistani intruder along the 198-km-long Indo-Pak international border in Samba district.

On Wednesday, the army had foiled an infiltration attempt on the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch sector and arrested three terrorists.

The army had also seized a consignment of arms and ammunition which included a 10kg improvised explosive device (IED) from the terrorists, who belonged to Karmara village. “During preliminary questioning one of the terrorists identified as Mohammad Farooq divulged to his interrogators that the IED was to be planted on an army convoy in Gulpur area of Poonch.

It may be stated here that the Indian Army lost 10 of its soldiers within a fortnight on April 20 and May 5 in two ambushes by the terrorists in Tota Gali in Poonch and Kandhi forests in Rajouri, respectively.

On January 1 and 2, at least seven Hindus that included a four-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl were killed by armed terrorists in Rajouri’s Dhangri village.

In all the three attacks, the terrorists remain elusive.