September 13: Yesterday at about 1400hrs, acting on a specific information generated by Police regarding the presence of terrorist in village Heff Shirmal area of Shopian, a joint cordon & search operation was launched by Police, Army (44RR) and CRPF (178Bn) in the said area.

During the search operation, as the joint search party approached towards the suspected spot, the hiding terrorist fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated effectively leading to an encounter. In the initial exchange of fire, an Army Jawan received gunshot injuries and was evacuated to hospital for treatment of his injuries.

In the ensuing encounter, one local terrorist identified as Aqib Ahmad Paul son of Mohd Akram Paul resident of Drawani Shopian linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT was killed and his body was retrieved from the site of encounter.

As per police records, the killed terrorist was a categorized terrorist and involved in terror crime cases including attacks on Police and Security Forces.

Arms, ammunition and other incriminating materials of proscribed terror outfit LeT were recovered from the site of encounter. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation. In this regard, a case under relevant sections of law has been registered and investigation has been initiated.```