Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashker-e-Tayiba on Wednesday claimed responsibility for the Kupwara encounter in which eight Army personnel, including a Major, and 17 militants were killed. The LeT also threatened to intensify attacks across the Kashmir valley.

"The LeT will continue to render sacrifices for the freedom of Kashmir," LeT spokesman Abdullah Gaznavi said.

"The operation in Kupwara should serve as an eye-opener for New Delhi [Images]. India should understand that the freedom struggle in Kashmir is not over. It is active with full force," Gaznavi told an English daily in Srinagar [Images].

The spokesman said its fighters were involved in the five-day long encounter in Kupwara forest.

"The army had launched a combing operation in Chowkibal forests of Kupwara district on March 20. However, the LeT had already received information about the army movement and laid an ambush in the forest," the spokesman claimed.