Four Indian soldiers and two suspected terrorists, including a commander of the group behind last week’s suicide bomb attack in Kashmir, have been killed during a night-long firefight.
The two terrorists were killed during a joint police and Indian army cordon and search operation of the Pulwama district that was conducted following military having received information that militants were holed up in the area.
The fighting broke out after the suspected terrorists opened fire on the Indian military search party. Four Indian security forces and two civilians were also killed during the night-long firefight. The two civilians were living in the house the terrorists were holed up in, the Times of India reported.
“We condole the death of the four soldiers who lost their lives earlier today in a terrorist encounter,” the Indian National Congress said in a tweet about the attack.
One of the terrorists is believed to be an alleged commander of Jaish-e-Mohammed, a militant group based in Pakistan that claimed responsibility for the Feb. 14 attack when a truck loaded with explosives drove into a convoy transporting Indian Central Reserve Police Force soldiers, killing At least 44 of them.