Darkness halts encounter, terrorists slip away

SRINAGAR: An unspecified number of terrorists involved in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmir's Kulgam since late Wednesday night escaped after the operation had to be suspended because of darkness.

The joint police and army team had laid a siege to a village in the Hadigam area with an intensive cordon-and-search operation following a tip-off about the presence of the terrorists, an official said.

As the team zeroed in on the spot, the hiding terrorists fired on the forces, triggering a retaliation that lasted sometime till the guns fell silent owing to lack of visibility. The operation later had to be suspended all night.

When the forces inspected the spot early Thursday, they found the terrorists had escaped, probably taking advantage of the lull in the gun battle, the official said.