The joint cordon-and-search operation (CASO), involving the Indian Army, Jammu and Kashmir Police, and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), was launched following specific intelligence inputs about suspected militant movement through the rugged forest terrain.
The network of hideouts built by terrorists in an area of about 150 sq km, found during this operation, was among the largest ever detected in the known history of insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir.
The encounter broke out in the Chatroo area after security forces launched a cordon-and-search operation based on specific intelligence inputs.
The charred bodies of the terrorists were found buried under the debris of a mud hideout in which they had been hiding. The hideout was burnt during the encounter. This takes the number of Pakistani terrorists killed in the region to five over the past few days.
In a major achievement for the security forces, two Pakistani terrorists of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit were killed on Wednesday in an ongoing encounter in the Basantgarh area of Udhampur district.
The Pakistani terrorists on Friday foiled an infiltration bid and killed two heavily armed Pakistani terrorists at the Line of Control (LoC) in the Poonch sector.
The incident has come a day after the killing of a Pakistani terrorist in Reasi district of Jammu Division.
Rana was arrested in the US on an extradition request by India for his role in these attacks in which 10 Pakistani terrorists laid a more than 60-hour siege
Two AK 47 rifles, two pistols, four hand grenades, 53 AK-47 bullets, 35 pistol bullets, Pakistani currency notes of Rs 1000, Rs 500 and Rs 50 and food items have been recovered from them.
The IGP informed that they were tracking the Pakistani terrorists who were active in the area for the last three to four months and were planning attacks in Srinagar.
