Acting on a tip-off, troops of the 20 and 16 Rashtriya Rifles and police launched a search and cordon operation in Mordha belt of Surakote tehsil in the district early on Thursday, said Manmohan Singh, senior superintendent of police, Poonch.
On seeing the security personnel, the terrorists opened indiscriminate firing from maize fields atop a hill in which one army jawan Gurpreet Singh of 16 RR was injured. He was later hospitalised.
The police and troops fired back and an encounter ensued in which three top LeT terrorists were killed, he said, adding that all of them are Pakistani militants.
Two of them have been identified as Abu Abdul and Abu Usman, he said adding large quantities of arms and ammunition have been recovered from the scene of the encounter.