In the lead-up to the first phase of Assembly elections, violence erupted in Jammu and Kashmir, leaving two Army personnel and three terrorists dead in separate encounters. The clashes come as security forces ramp up operations to curb terrorist activities in the region.
In Kishtwar district, two soldiers, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), were killed, and two others were injured during a gunfight with terrorists on Friday. The incident occurred when a joint team of Army personnel and local police launched a cordon-and-search operation in the Naidgham area, acting on intelligence inputs.
The terrorists, hiding in the dense Pingnal Dugadda forest, opened fire on the approaching security forces, triggering a fierce gun battle. Among the casualties were Junior Commissioned Officer Naib Subedar Vipan Kumar and Sepoy Arvind Singh, both of whom succumbed to their injuries after being airlifted to a hospital for treatment.
Simultaneously, a second encounter unfolded in the Baramulla district, where security forces successfully neutralized three terrorists who had taken refuge in a building in the Chak Tapper area. The operation concluded after hours of intense fighting, resulting in the elimination of the trapped terrorists.
The Union Territory has seen a surge in violent incidents as tensions rise ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls, the first in the region in a decade. The Indian Army has cordoned off both areas involved in the latest encounters, and operations are ongoing to ensure the elimination of any remaining threats.
Earlier in the week, two more terrorists were killed in an encounter in Basantgarh near the Kathua-Udhampur border. This was followed by an incident of unprovoked firing from Pakistan Rangers along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu’s Akhnoor sector, in which a Border Security Force (BSF) personnel was injured.