SRI NAGAR: Ahead of the start of the 38-day annual Amarnath yatra, an encounter took place between a group of militants and security forces at Chatroo forest area in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district on Wednesday evening.
A security official said acting on specific information about the presence of militants, a joint search operation was launched by the army, police and paramilitary forces in the Kanzal Mandu area of Chatroo forest area in Kishtwar in the afternoon.
He said that while a search operation was going on, militants hiding in the forest area fired on the troops. “The troops fired back, triggering an encounter,” the official said.
After the exchange of gunfire, additional troops were rushed to the area to tighten the siege and prevent militants from escaping from the area. The security forces were using drones, helicopters and other surveillance gadgets to track down the movement of the militants.
A security official said they suspect the presence of two to three militants in the area.
“The militants belong to Jaish-e-Mohammad and security forces had been hunting for them for a long time,” he said.
The encounter took place hours before the start of 38-day Amarnath yatra to the cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas from Thursday. The security arrangements across J&K have been tightened ahead of the start of the Amarnath yatra, which is taking place after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 25 tourists and a local pony wala were killed.
The encounter in Kishtwar took place a week after a Jaish-e-Mohammad Pakistani militant was killed in an encounter with security forces in the Basantgarh forest area of neighbouring Udhampur district. Three militants were also trapped in the encounter but they managed to slip from the security forces during the operation.