Jammu, Jan 18: Eight soldiers of the Army 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.
The intense exchange of fire between the two sides lasted several hours before the guns fell silent. Reinforcements have been deployed to strengthen the cordon and neutralise the terrorists, the officials said.
The operation, which the Army’s Jammu-based White Knight Corps has named ‘Operation Trashi-I’, began around noon.
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 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 till 5.40 pm, the officials said.
Eight soldiers were injured and evacuated to the hospital. Most of them suffered splinter injuries in the grenade blast, the officials said, adding that a massive search operation is on to track and neutralise the terrorists.
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 Republic Day to ensure peaceful celebrations, amid intelligence inputs about desperate attempts by Pakistan-based handlers to push more terrorists, the officials said.–(PTI)
