Security forces resumed the anti-militancy operation in Anantnag’s Gadool hamlet on September 14, a day after three officers were killed in a gunfight.

According to the police, two terrorists were hiding in the area and a contact was established in the morning. “Our forces persist with unwavering resolve as they encircle two LeT [Lashkar-e-Taiba] terrorists including Uzair Khan,” a police spokesman said, in a post on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter).

The area of operation is dotted with thick jungles and slopes, providing the hiding terrorists a cover, officials said.

The operation was halted for the night. Sources said security forces pressed into service drones and helicopters to maintain a vigil of the encounter site. Additional troops have been rushed to fortify the cordon in the area.

Three officers, Colonel Manpreet Singh, Major Ashish Dhonak and Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Humayun Bhat, were killed in the first volley of bullets fired by the hiding terrorists on September 13.

The deceased DSP is the son of former Inspector General of Police Ghulam Muhammad Bhat.

Meanwhile, security forces airlifted the bodies of Colonel Manpreet Singh and Major Ashish Dhonak from the encounter site in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district on September 14, a day after they were killed along with a DSP in a gunfight with terrorists.

The bodies of Singh and Dhonak were airlifted from Kokernag to the Army’s 92 Base Hospital in the Badamibagh Cantonment in Srinagar, officials said.

They said top Army, police and civil administration officials will pay their last respects to the slain officers, before their mortal remains are sent to their native places for the last rites.