The three terrorists killed by the Jammu and Kashmir Police at a toll plaza in Nagrota (near Jammu), were prepared for a stand-off with the police, officials said on Friday.

Pakistan-manufactured morphine injection, IEDs and armour piercing bullets are among the recovery made by the police, which directly links these terrorists to Pakistan, the officials further said. The three terrorists belong to Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

The police had also recovered AK-47 rifles, magazines and grenades from the slain terrorists on Friday. Three detonators, RDX, six Chinese grenades and Rs 32,000 cash have also been recovered.

The morphine injection recovered from the three terrorists killed in Jammu on Friday.

The three terrorists, said the police, sneaked into India through trucks. They were able to infiltrate through the rivers and other water bodies which flow between India and Pakistan, said the police. The terrorists then boarded a truck and were headed towards Srinagar when they were intercepted by the police at the Ban toll plaza during a security check at 5 am, they added.

The terrorists opened fire when they were caught by the police, leaving one cop injured. All three were shot dead by the police in the gunfight which ensued at the toll plaza.

“One terrorist was killed in the morning. Two others have been neutralised in the adjoining forest area. Their bodies are being brought up to the road,” J&K director general of police Dilbagh Singh told HT.

Among the other recoveries is detonators and wires.

The police also said that they have arrested three people including truck driver Sameer Dar, who was ferrying the armed terrorists to Srinagar from Dayalachak in Hiranagar area of Kathua district.

Dar is the cousin brother of Aadil Dar, the suicide bomber, who rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into a CRPF convoy in Pulwama on Jammu-Srinagar highway on February 14 last year in which 40 personnel were killed.

The officials suspect that the terrorists might have planned to carry out attack at vital installations as well as security camps along the nearly 300-km highway as they were carrying wire cutters and bulletproof jackets.

This was the first terror attack in Jammu since Article 370, which granted special status to the former state of Jammu and Kashmir, was revoked on August 5 last year.

Nagrota is an Indian Army cantonment where seven soldiers, including two officers, were killed in November 2016 when terrorists dressed as policemen stormed a military camp.