2 soldiers killed in J&K encounter, militant shot dead in another operation

Two Army personnel and a militant were killed in separate encounters in Jammu and Kashmir, days ahead of the first phase of Assembly elections.

In Kishtwar district, two soldiers, including a Junior Commissioned Officer, were killed, and two others were injured in a gunfight with terrorists on Friday.

In a separate encounter in Baramulla, one militant was killed by security forces. Around 2–3 militants are trapped in a building in the Chak Tapper area.

The gunfight in Kishtwar started when a joint Army and police team, acting on a tip-off, initiated a cordon-and-search operation in the Naidgham area, according to officials.

Seeing the security personnel, a group of terrorists, who were hiding in the Pingnal Dugadda forest, opened indiscriminate fire and a gunfight ensued.

Four Army personnel were injured in the encounter. Two of them — Junior Commissioned Officer Naib Subedar Vipan Kumar and Sepoy Arvind Singh — later succumbed to injuries.

The security forces have cordoned off the area and operations are on, the Indian Army said. The officials said the injured soldiers were airlifted to an Army hospital after preliminary treatment at a local hospital.

The Union Territory is witnessing sporadic incidents of violence ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls, the first elections in the region in 10 years.

On Wednesday, two terrorists were killed in an encounter in Basantgarh near the Kathua-Udhampur border in the Union Territory. A gunfight had broken out between security forces and terrorists in Udhampur district earlier in the day.

Upon being informed about the presence of terrorists in the region, paramilitary troops and police personnel reached Basantgarh and cordoned off the area. The encounter came just hours after a personnel from the Border Security Force (BSF) was injured after Pakistan Rangers resorted to unprovoked firing along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu’s Akhnoor sector.