Encounter breaks out in J&K’s Kishtwar after terrorists open fire at search team

An encounter erupted in J&K’s Kishtwar district after terrorists fired on a security search team in the Kalaban forest area. The gunfight continues as forces tighten counter-terror operations under a new strategy targeting the broader terror ecosystem.

Jammu: An encounter started on Wednesday between the security forces and terrorists in the forest area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district.

Officials said that on specific intelligence inputs, security forces started a CASO (Cordon and Search Operation) in the Kalaban forest area of Chatroo sub-division in Kishtwar district on Tuesday evening.

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“As the security forces closed in on the hiding terrorists, they fired at the surrounding security personnel, triggering an encounter which is now going on. Further details are awaited,” officials said.

The J&K Police and the security forces have started aggressive anti-terrorist operations targeting terrorists, their overground workers (OGWs) and sympathisers.

This revised strategy is aimed at dismantling the total ecosystem of terror in Jammu and Kashmir rather than just the elimination of the gun-wielding terrorists.

Drug smugglers, drug peddlers and those involved in hawala money rackets are also on the scanner of the security forces, as it is believed that funds generated by these unlawful activities are finally used to sustain terrorists in the UT.

Aggressive operations were started in J&K after the April 22 terror attack in Baisaran meadow of Pahalgam by Pakistan-backed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists.

Twenty-six civilians, including 25 tourists and one local Pony owner, were killed in the Baisaran terror attack. The attack outraged the entire country, after which Operation Sindoor was started by the Armed Forces against the terror infrastructure in Pakistan.

J&K has a 740-km-long Line of Control (LoC) and a 240-km-long International Border. The army guards the LoC while the Border Security Force (BSF) guards the IB.

Army and the BSF are deployed to prevent infiltration or exfiltration, check the menace of drones carrying payloads of arms/ammunition, drugs and cash for the terrorists, while anti-terrorism operations are carried out by local police and the security forces in the hinterland.

The LoC is situated in the Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora districts of the Valley and partly in the Jammu district. The IB is situated in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts of Jammu division.