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.

New Delhi:

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today said India is ready to start dialogue with Pakistan if the neighbouring country stops sponsoring terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

Mr Singh made the comment at an election rally in the Union Territory’s Ramban district. The BJP has fielded Mohd Saleem Bhat from the Banihal seat in this district.

“If Pakistan do one thing, that is stop giving support to terrorism, who would not like to improve relations with neighbouring countries? Because I know the reality that you can change a friend, but not your neighbour. We want improved relations with Pakistan, but first of all they should stop terrorism,” Mr Singh said at a rally in Banihal.

The Defence Minister said 85 per cent people who were killed by terrorists were Muslims.

“Terror incidents used to be a routine affair in Kashmir. Were Hindus being killed in the terror acts? I have been a Home Minister and I know the highest number of Muslims lost their lives in incidents of terror,” Mr Singh said.

India has long maintained that the normalisation of radical elements in Pakistan has been a part of Islamabad’s state policy. Even a political party backed by 26/11 Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed had contested elections in Pakistan. Hafiz Saeed, who is a UN-proscribed terrorist, is the founder of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Major terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir had declined after Pakistan was included in the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list. Pakistan had then faced huge worries about securing financial aid from foreign institutions because of its FATF scrutiny.

The FATF had later removed Pakistan from the grey list, though India had said it did not mean Pakistan would no longer be under scrutiny.

Earlier today, the Defence Minister also addressed an election rally in Ramban in support of party candidate Rakesh Singh Thakur.

The BJP’s Mohd Saleem Bhat is pitted against former state Congress chief and ex minister Vikar Rasool Wani, who is looking for a hat-trick from Banihal.

Voting in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases. Counting is on October 8.

With inputs from PTI