Jammu: Eight soldiers were injured in a gunfight with terrorists in a remote forested area in the upper reaches of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district on Sunday, officials said.
Reinforcements have been deployed to neutralise the terrorists. The operation, which the Army’s Jammu-based White Knight Corps has named ‘Operation Trashi-I’, began around noon, they said.
In a post on X, the White Knight Corps said the security forces came in contact with the terrorists in the general area Sonnar, northeast of Chatroo, during a deliberate search operation conducted as part of ongoing joint counter-terror exercises along with Jammu and Kashmir Police.
“Operations remain underway with additional forces inducted to reinforce the cordon, supported by close coordination with civil administration and security agencies,” the Army said, commending the troops for their exceptional professionalism and resolve while responding to hostile fire under challenging terrain and conditions. According to the officials, one of the search teams came across a group of two to three foreign terrorists allegedly belonging to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), who fired indiscriminately and also lobbed a few grenades in an attempt to break the cordon.
The troops retaliated and reinforcements from Army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and police were rushed to further tighten the cordon. There was intermittent firing between the two sides for some time, the officials said.
Three soldiers suffered splinter injuries and were subsequently evacuated to the hospital. A massive search operation is on to track and neutralise the terrorists, they added.
Advanced surveillance equipment, including drones, and sniffer dogs have been deployed to speed up the operation.
This is the third encounter between the security forces and terrorists in the Jammu region this year. Encounters broke out in Kahog and Najote forests in the Billawar area of Kathua district on January 7 and 13, respectively.
On December 15 last year, a police officer was killed in an encounter with terrorists at Soan village in the Majalta area of Udhampur district. The terrorists managed to escape, taking advantage of thick foliage and darkness.
The encounters followed a major counter-terrorist operation launched in the forest belts of the Jammu region in December last year to flush out nearly three dozen holed-up terrorists.
Operations have been further intensified in the run-up to the Republic Day to ensure peaceful celebrations, amid intelligence inputs about desperate attempts by Pakistan-based handlers to push more terrorists, the officials said.
