Fierce gunfight erupts in J&K's Kishtwar, four soldiers injured

A day before the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Chenab region of Jammu province, four Army personnel were injured in an encounter in the Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir.
As reported earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to launch the election campaign for BJP in Jammu and Kashmir by addressing a rally in Doda town on Saturday.

The Chenab region-comprising Doda, Kishtwar, and Ramban districts, will go for polling on September 18 during the first phase of three-phased Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

Officials said that four Army personnel were injured in an encounter that broke out following a search operation in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district.

Acting on a tip-off, security forces launched a cordon and search operation in the Naidgham area in Chhatroo belt, police officials said.

There was an exchange of fire between search teams of security forces and hiding terrorists at Pingnal Dugadda forest area, upper reaches of Naidgham village under the jurisdiction of Police Station Chhatroo, they said.

Army said tonight that a joint operation with the police was launched in area Chatroo on the basis of intelligence inputs.

"Based on the intelligence inputs, a joint operation with J&K Police was launched in area Chatroo at Kishtwar.
A contact was established and the scout leading the patrol exchanged a heavy volume of fire with the terrorists. In the ensuing firefight, four army personnel have been injured. The operation is in progress", White Knight Corps posted in a post on X.

Additional forces rushed to Kishtwar

Reports said that additional forces immediately rushed to the Chhatroo area of Kishtwar to track down the terrorists involved in the encounter.

"As this belt connects with the south Kashmir, forces are also called from the side of the Kashmir Valley to launch a comprehensive operation", sources said.

On July 16, four soldiers including an officer of the Army lost their lives in the line of duty during a fierce encounter with terrorists in the neighbouring Doda district.

The troops of Rashtriya Rifles and Special Operations Group of J&K Police were searching the Dhari Gote Urarbagi area of the forest, located about 55 km from Doda town when they were attacked by the terrorists on July 16.

Recently presence of terrorists was observed in this Chenab region which was earlier declared as free from terrorism.

Operation Khandara concluded after two days

Meanwhile, a joint operation launched by the Rising Star Corps of the Indian Army in collaboration with the Jammu and Kashmir Police concluded today with the recovery of a huge quantity of arms and ammunition. The joint operation was launched on September 11 in which two terrorists were eliminated on day one.

The joint operation by the Rising Star Corps of the Indian Army in collaboration with the Jammu and Kashmir Police was launched on 11 September. It concluded with the recovery of large war-like stores, according to a post by the Rising Star Corps on X

The post read, "In the joint operation launched on 11 September by troops of Rising Star Corps and J&K Police, two terrorists neutralized and large war-like stores recovered. Operations concluded".