Army intercepts terrorists on Poonch LoC in J&K, gunfight on

Indian troops engaged two suspected terrorists near the LoC in J&K’s Poonch district, days after the Army neutralised three Pakistani militants behind the Pahalgam attack. The encounter follows retaliatory strikes deep inside Pakistan in Operation Sindoor.

Jammu: The Army said on Wednesday that two terrorists were spotted near the border fence on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district, and a gunfight is now underway in the area.

Nagrota-headquartered White Knight Corps said on X, “Suspected movement of two individuals was observed by own troops along the fence in gen area of #Poonch Sector. Gunfire exchanged. Operation under progress”.

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Reports from the area said the infiltration bid by terrorists has been foiled, and the operation is on to eliminate the intruders.

Army’s Poonch interception of terrorists comes just two days after all three terrorists engaged in the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack were killed by the joint forces in Srinagar district in Operation Mahadev.

Three hardcore Pakistani terrorists, including Suleman Shah, the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander and his two associates, Abu Hamza and Jibran Bhai, were killed in a joint operation by the Army, CRPF and J&K Police in the higher reaches of Dachigam National Park at the foot of the Mahadev Mountain Peak in the Harwan area of Srinagar.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah told the Parliament on Wednesday that these three terrorists had carried out the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 civilians, including 25 tourists and a local, were killed.

The Union Home Minister said that intelligence tracking and eye-witnesses had confirmed that these three terrorists had carried out the Pahalgam terror attack.

The attack had outraged the entire country, and the focus of the security forces was to bring the perpetrators of the Pahalgam terror attack to justice.

To avenge the terror attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a free hand to the Armed Forces. Target-specific strikes were carried out by the forces against terror infrastructure at nine locations deep inside Pakistan. These included Muridke near Lahore and Bahawalpur in Pakistan mainland and Kotli and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

In retaliation, Pakistan carried out heavy mortar shelling on civilian facilities in Poonch, Rajouri, Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara districts of J&K.

After escalation, the Indian Armed Forces damaged 11 defence bases of Pakistan till a ceasefire offer by Pakistan was accepted by India without agreeing to suspend Operation Sindoor.