February 18: Based on credible inputs about the presence of terrorists in Pinglena area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district, a cordon and search operation was launched jointly by Police and security forces in the intervening night in the area.

As the searches were going on, terrorists from inside the target house fired indiscriminately on the search party. In the initial burst of fire four army jawans and one civilian sustained critical gun shot injuries. They were evacuated to hospital for medical attention. Consequently , four injured jawans attained martyrdom and the civilian also succumbed to his injuries. The martyred jawans have been identified as Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal, Hawaldar Sheo Ram, Sepoy Hari Singh and Sepoy Ajay Kumar.

The fire was retaliated by the security forces leading to an encounter. In the ensuing encounter so far 02 terrorists have been killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter. The identities and affiliations of the killed terrorists are being ascertained. The encounter is still in progress and the security forces are on the job.

Citizens are requested not to venture inside encounter zone since such an area is a prohibited zone and can prove dangerous due to stray explosive materials. People are requested to cooperate with police till the area is completely sanitized and cleared of all the explosive materials if any.