Srinagar:

An injured Head Constable Bashir Ahmed shot dead a hardcore Pakistani terrorist before he breathed his last breath during a fierce gunbattle between terrorists and security operation in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district last night. The operation, which began yesterday, is still on. Two police officers have also been injured in the encounter.

“In the ongoing operation in village Kog (Mandli), Kathua Police HC Bashir Ahmed made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty, heroically taking down a terrorist. While he succumbed to his injuries, the other officers, including Deputy SP Sukhbir and ASI Niaz are stable,” Additional Director General of Police, Jammu zone, Anand Jain said in a post on X.

In the ongoing operation in village Kog (Mandli), Kathua Police HC Bashir Ahmed made the ultimate #sacrifice in the line of duty, heroically taking down a #Terrorist . While he succumbed to his injuries, the other officers, including Dysp Sukhbir and ASI Niaz, are stable. https://t.co/RX2vsV9xNSpic.twitter.com/9mlXfVaUyG

— ADGP Jammu (@adgp_igp) September 29, 2024

The senior officer said that the search operation in the village was launched yesterday after police got information that three-four terrorists were hiding there. When a joint security party approached the village, the terrorists opened fire.

In the gunfight that followed, head constable Bashir Ahmed was fatally injured but managed to shoot down a terrorist before he succumbed. The area has been cordoned off now and an operation to gun down the remaining terrorists is on, the officer has said.

The senior police officer said the operations against terrorists will continue as the Union Territory votes in its first Assembly election after its special status was revoked in 2019.

“We are getting continuous information about terrorists and subsequently conducting operations with an endeavour to neutralise them as soon as possible,” he said.

He said adequate security arrangements are in place in all poll-bound areas to ensure a violence-free third phase of voting.