Srinagar, Feb 10 (PTI) The National Investigation Agency has taken up the probe into the January 31 encounter in which three Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists were killed on the outskirts of the city, officials said on Monday.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs issued a notification on Monday directing the agency to carry out a thorough probe into the circumstances in which the three terrorists had sneaked into Jammu and Kashmir through the International Border at Sambha.

Jammu and Kashmir Police has arrested five people, including a cousin of the suicide bomber who killed 40 CRPF personnel in a deadly attack last year in Pulwama.

The militants were killed in a fierce gunbattle with police at a toll plaza on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway on January 31, officials said. The militants were travelling in a truck towards the Kashmir Valley.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)