Srinagar/IBNS/UNI: Three senior security officers including a colonel, a major, and a Deputy Superintendent of Police, were killed on Wednesday in a gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district, officials said

This is the biggest hit security forces took in Kashmir this year.

Officials said three security officers including the decorated Commanding Officer of the Army elite counter-insurgency unit were injured during an encounter in a Gadole area of Kokernag which erupted when joint teams of forces were carrying a cordon and a search operation (CASO) in the area.

“As the cordon was being laid, the terrorists opened fire leading to the injuries to three officers,” officials said.

The injured officers later succumbed, they added.

There is no report of any militant casualty so far.

The army or police have not issued any statement about the casualties so far.

Earlier in the day, the Army had said three security men were injured in the encounter during a joint operation.

Top police and army officers including J&K’s Director General of Police Dilbag Singh, 15 Corps Commander Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai who is senior-most Indian army officer in Kashmir rushed to Kokernag area to supervise the operation against militants.

Additional forces have been rushed to the area to flush out the militants, officials said.

The banned out-Resistance Front-believed to be a shadow group of Lashkar-e-Taiba, has claimed responsibility for the attack.