Doda-Ramban range Deputy Inspector General of Police Hemant Kumar Lohia informed however the police and Army eliminated the three Lashkar militants but searches to trace other militants, suspected to be hiding in the area were still on.

“Receiving inputs about the movement of militants in the Keshwan area of Kishtwar, the Army and state police laid a cordon in the area and chased militants who took shelter inside a local mosque in the morning,” said the DIG adding, “As the militants were hiding in the mosque, the security forces proceeded very cautiously but the militants opened fire and the encounter began.”

Lohia informed that in an hour’s long encounter, three militants belonging to the LeT were killed. Search for others, if hiding, have been launched in the mosque and adjoining localities.

Sources said that two of the three eliminated militants have been identified as Yusuf Gujjar alias Kamran of Chatroo, an area commander of Lashkar and Abdul Rashid, another local militant. But the identity of the third militant, who is allegedly from Pakistan, is yet to be ascertained.