NEW DELHI: Eight Army personnel were injured on Sunday during a prolonged encounter with terrorists in a remote forest area in the upper reaches of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district.
The clash broke out when security forces made contact with terrorists during a search operation in the general area of Sonnar, northeast of Chatroo. The operation, launched around noon, has been codenamed Operation Trashi-I by the Army’s Jammu-based White Knight Corps.
In a post on X, the White Knight Corps said the search was part of ongoing joint counter-terror operations with the Jammu and Kashmir Police. “Operations remain underway with additional forces inducted to reinforce the cordon, supported by close coordination with civil administration and other security agencies,” the Army said, commending troops for their professionalism while responding to hostile fire in difficult terrain and weather conditions.
According to officials, the terrorists opened indiscriminate fire and hurled grenades in an attempt to break the cordon. Troops retaliated, and reinforcements from the Army, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and police were rushed to the area to tighten the cordon.
Intermittent firing continued until about 5.40 pm. Eight soldiers suffered injuries, mostly splinter wounds from grenade blasts, and were evacuated to hospital. A large-scale search operation is ongoing to track down and neutralise the terrorists.
Security forces have deployed advanced surveillance equipment, including drones, along with sniffer dogs to accelerate the operation.
This is the third encounter between security forces and terrorists in the Jammu region this year. Earlier gunfights were reported in the Kahog and Najote forests of the Billawar area in Kathua district on January 7 and 13.
On December 15 last year, a police officer was killed in an encounter in Soan village of the Majalta area in Udhampur district, where terrorists managed to escape under cover of dense foliage and darkness.
These incidents follow a major counter-terror operation launched across forest belts of the Jammu region in December to flush out nearly three dozen terrorists believed to be hiding in the area. Security has been further tightened ahead of Republic Day amid intelligence inputs suggesting renewed attempts by Pakistan-based handlers to push in more terrorists, officials said.
