Gunfight with terrorists in Kishtwar

JAMMU: A gunfight broke out Sunday between terrorists and security forces during a cordon-and-search operation in a remote area of J&K’s Kishtwar.

Officials said the operation in the Dul area of the hilly district in Jammu zone followed specific inputs and was still on. It came a day after two army personnel died in an ongoing gunfight with Pakistan-trained terrorists in south Kashmir’s Kulgam in one of the valley’s longest counterterrorism operations.

“On noticing the security forces closing in, the hiding terrorists (in Kishtwar’s Dul), believed to be two in number, opened fire. This was promptly retaliated by forces, leading to the gunfight,” an official said.

Reinforcements have been rushed to the area. The Army’s White Knight Corps confirmed the operation. “Troops carrying out an intelligence-based operation established contact with terrorists in Dul. Gunfire exchanged. Operation under progress,” White Knight Corps posted on X.

Pakistan-based terrorists who infiltrate the border use Kishtwar as a corridor to get to the upper reaches of Kathua before moving to Udhampur Doda and the Kashmir valley. Kishtwar shares boundaries with Kashmir’s Anantnag, as does Doda.

Earlier, on July 20, the Army had launched an operation in Hadal Gal area of Kishtwar, triggering an encounter with terrorists, but they slipped away. Prior to this, forces had combed Chatru area of Kishtwar on July 2 after inputs about hiding terrorists but they vanished into dense forests.

On May 22, an Army jawan died after a gunbattle with terrorists in Chatru. Over a month before that, three Pakistani terrorists were eliminated in an encounter in the same area on April 11 and 12.