Srinagar:

Four soldiers were injured during a fierce gunbattle with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar, a senior army officer said. In a separate encounter in Kathua, troops of the Rising Star Corps shot dead two terrorists.

The army in a statement said based on intelligence inputs, a joint operation with Jammu and Kashmir Police was launched in Chatroo at Kishtwar. Contact was established with terrorists at 1530 hours. In the ensuing firefight, four army personnel were injured, the army said. The operation is going on.

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In the Joint operation launched on 11 Sep by & & , Two Terrorists Neutralised & Large War Like Stores Recovered. C pic.twitter.com/QUc92EhElN

— Rising Star Corps_IA (@RisingStarCorps) September 13, 2024

The gunbattle in Kishtwar’s Chatroo began after the security forces launched an operation in the area. The encounter is still going on, the White Knight Corps said in a post on X.

The same terrorists involved in the encounter in Kishtwar are linked to another encounter in Doda in July, when four soldiers including an officer were killed in action, sources said.

The encounters happened days before voting in eight assembly segments spread across Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts in the Chenab valley region, along with 16 seats in the south Kashmir districts of Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam on September 18.

Jammu, Kathua and Samba districts will vote in the second and third phases on September 25 and October 1, respectively.

Srinagar:

Two soldiers were injured in a fierce gunbattle with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district today, sources said.

The police said the encounter began in Anantnag district’s Ahlan Gadole this afternoon.

The two soldiers were injured after terrorists targeted their patrol while they were carrying out an anti-terror operation in the forest in the Kokernag subdivision. 

The army’s special forces are part of the operation to flush out terrorists who are believed to be foreigners.

Today’s gunbattle is the second major encounter in Kokernag in the last one year. In September 2023, a Commanding Officer, a Major, and a Deputy Superintendent of Police were among the personnel killed during a gunbattle with terrorists in Kokernag forest.

Reinforcement has been rushed to the area to flush out terrorists, believed to be entrenched in Ahlan Gadole forests.

Jammu:

Security forces and terrorists exchanged fire twice briefly within a span of four hours in a forest area in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district, officials said on Wednesday.

They said the firing was first reported at Kalaan Bhata at 10.45 pm on Tuesday and then near Panchan Bhata at 2 am during the ongoing anti-terrorist operation in the Desa forest area, where four Army personnel were killed in the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday.

There are no reports of any casualties in the latest exchanges of fire. Taking advantage of the darkness, difficult terrain and thick foliage, the terrorists managed to slip away, the officials said.

Troops of Rashtriya Rifles and Special Operations Group of Jammu and Kashmir Police had launched a joint cordon and search operation at Dhari Gote Urarbagi in the Desa forest belt, some 55 km from Doda town, late on Monday evening following information about the presence of terrorists.

Despite the challenging terrain and weather conditions, efforts are underway to track down and neutralise the militants who have links with the banned Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the officials said.

The Army, along with para commandos and aerial support from drones and helicopters, is intensifying its search operation to eliminate the terrorists who have infiltrated from across the border and taken refuge in the forest area.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Army had said it had been conducting a series of joint and coordinated operations with the Jammu and Kashmir Police to eliminate foreign terrorists who had infiltrated from across the border and were moving in the upper reaches of Udhampur, Doda and Kishtwar districts in the Jammu region and thereafter to Kashmir.

“All formations of the Northern Command are committed to eliminating the scourge of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir for which the relentless operations will continue,” the Army had said. 

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Four Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists who were shot dead in an encounter on Saturday night at Chinnigam used to stay in a hideout at Chinnigam Frisal in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district.

“They had created a bunker inside an almirah,” said an official, adding the involvement of locals for sheltering the terrorists is being investigated.

Two soldiers of the Indian Army were killed in action in the operation, while a total of six Hizbul terrorists were shot dead in separate encounters in south Kashmir’s Kulgam.

“In the first encounter in Madergam, a soldier was killed in action. In the second encounter in Chinigam in Kulgam, four terrorists were shot dead. A soldier was also killed in action,” Inspector General of Police VK Birdi told NDTV.

According to him, all the killed terrorists were affiliated to the Hizbul Mujahideen. “One of them was the local commander of the Hizbul,” he said.

The four terrorists shot dead in Chinigam have been identified as Yawar Bashir Dar, Zahid Ahmad Dar, Tawheed Ahmad Rather and Shakeel ah Wani. The two killed in Madergam have been identified as Faisal and Adil.

Para commando and Lance Naik Pradeep Nain was killed in action in Modergam; Havaldar Raj Kumar of 1 Rashtriya Rifles was killed in action in Chanigam village in Frisal area.

Although both encounters were reported from the interiors of Kulgam, security officials have reviewed the situation in view of the Amarnath yatra.

“The encounter sites were in the interiors of Kulgam and were away from the national highway. The police and other agencies are keeping a close watch. This success is a result of that,” an official said.

New Delhi:

Security forces have now reached close to the hideout of terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag where they had targetted their bombs and shells to drive them out, sources said. An operation against terrorists is going on since late Tuesday night deep inside the dense forests of Gadol area of Kokernag in Anantnag. 

The encounter has entered its sixth day, with thousands of troops including para commandos locked in an endless gunfight with terrorists.

Three officers, including two from the Army and a policeman, have been killed in action in an attempt to neutralise the terrorists.

Profile of terrorists

The heavily armed terrorists, believed to be two-three in number, are hiding in a tactically favourable location in the dense and steep forest. 

They are believed to be affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba as one of them is one of them is Uzair Khan, who joined Lashkar last year and is well aware of the area.

Cautious approach

It has been raining intermittently at the encounter site since Saturday, which is causing a lot of difficulty in the operation. Especially on these hills of Pir Panjal, there are dense forests, caves, and ditches, due to which the visibility reduces considerably and makes the operation riskier. 

Army sources said that there is no firing from terrorists, but until that area is completely sanitised, army personnel cannot go there. It’s possible that the terrorist may be alive and hiding to fire secretly. They may even have planted an improvised explosive device (IED) in the hideout and set it to explode when the soldiers reach there. This is why the army is moving very slowly, sources said.

Army dogs and equipment to detect explosives are also being used to clear the area. 

Security forces suspect that the hide out may have dead bodies of the terrorists. Even if they aren’t dead, it would be very difficult to escape as the army has cordoned off the entire area. 

Action so far

The troops have fired hundreds of mortar shells and rockets, targeted suspected terrorist hideouts with hi-tech equipment, and dropped explosives using advanced drones.

The Army has even released a picture of the drone being used in the operation.

OP GAROL#LtGenUpendraDwivedi#ArmyCdr, Northern Command reviewed the operational situation on the ongoing operations at #Kokernag forest area in #Anantnag. He was briefed by the ground commanders on the High Intensity Operations in which Hi-tech Equipment is being used for… pic.twitter.com/MggzlYb2Lh

— NORTHERN COMMAND – INDIAN ARMY (@NorthernComd_IA) September 16, 2023

The joint operation by Army and police began Tuesday night based on intelligence input, followed by an attempt to approach the terrorist hideout next day. The terrorists who appear to have anticipated the action opened fire on the forces, caught between the dense forests and hill on one side and a deep ditch on the other.

Leading from the front, two Army officers – Colonel Manpreet Singh and Major Ashish Dhonchak, and Deputy Superintendent of Police Himayun Bhat – were killed in action. Two more soldiers were injured while another is believed to be missing.

Srinagar:

The encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district has entered its fourth day with terrorists holed up in a cave on the top of a hill. The security personnel are caught between forests and a hill on one side and a deep ditch on the other, sources have said.

The gunfight began during a joint operation of the Army and the police Tuesday night to hunt down the terrorists hiding in the Gadul forest of Kokernag. A soldier went missing and three officers killed in action when they tried to approach the Lashkar terrorists’ hideout atop a hill.

The Inside Story

The terrorists – who are well versed with the local terrain — are holed up in a cave on the top of a hill that can be accessed only by a narrow route with a deep ditch on one side, highly placed sources have told NDTV. It was this route that the officers had used to approach the cave on Wednesday, but came under firing with nowhere to take cover.

The standoff continues since with the forces having surrounded the hill. They are using rocket launders and dropping explosives using Heron drones bought from Israel, but the challenging terrain didn’t allow Army domination yet, said sources.

The terrorists, who are well-trained with no shortage of food and ammunition, are likely to be more than the two-three that was being cited, according to the sources.

The Bravehearts

Three officers, including two from the Army and a policeman, were killed in action on Wednesday.

Colonel Manpreet Singh, Sena Medal (Gallantry), was the Commanding Officer of the 19 Rashtriya Rifles Unit (19 RR) and Major Aashish Dhonchak, Sena Medal (Gallantry), was the company commander of 19 RR. Himanyun Muzamil Bhat was a Deputy Superintendent (DySP) in the Jammu and Kashmir Police.

Colonel Singh’s body reached his Punjab hometown yesterday with a huge crowd attending his funeral to pay their last respects to the hero.

A soldier has gone missing while two others were injured in an encounter with terrorists that is underway for over 48 hours in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
The fierce encounter broke out early Wednesday morning after the army and the police launched a joint operation to hunt down terrorists in the dense forests of Kokernag.

Three officers, including two from the Army and a policeman, were killed in action on that day. There is no update on the casualty figure on the side of the terrorists.

The Joint-Operation

The Army and Jammu and Kashmir Police launched their joint search operation on the night of September 12-13. They laid a cordon in search of some terrorists in Garol village, officials said.

An extensive search led to the conclusion that the terrorists were in a hideout in the higher reaches in the dense forest.

Colonel Manpreet Singh, who led the search column, along with Major Aashish Dhonchak moved through the entrants and rugged terrain of the forests. Around noon, they came under heavy firing from the terrorists and retaliated.

Colonel Singh, Major Dhonchak and DSP Himanyun Bhat suffered gunshot wounds and later died due to the injuries.

The Bravehearts

Colonel Manpreet Singh, Sena Medal (Gallantry), was the Commanding Officer of the 19 Rashtriya Rifles Unit (19 RR) and Major Aashish Dhonchak, Sena Medal (Gallantry), was the company commander of 19 RR. Himanyun Muzamil Bhat was a Deputy Superintendent (DySP) in the Jammu and Kashmir Police.

Lt Governor Manoj Sinha on Thursday paid tribute to the army officers in Srinagar.

The army said a specialized operation was conducted in the treacherous terrain of Kokernag to retrieve the bodies of the officers. Their bodies will be transported through a special aircraft to their hometowns.