A terrorist was killed and three army personnel, including an army officer, were injured during an encounter between security forces and terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Monday morning.
According to officials, one of the personnel, army’s junior commissioned officer, is in a critical condition. The identity of the army officials has not been released.
The security forces launched a search operation in the Gudar forest area following information about the presence of terrorists, officials said. However, the search operation turned into an encounter after the terrorists opened fire on the security forces.
“Based on specific intelligence input by JKP, joint search operation was launched by the Indian Army, Jammu and Kashmir Police, and CRPF Srinagar in Guddar forest of #Kulgam. Vigilant troops observed suspicious activity and upon being challenged, terrorists opened fire, prompting a fierce exchange of gunfire during which one terrorist has been eliminated and a junior commissioned officer suffered injuries. Operation is in progress,” the Chinar Corps of the Indian Army said.
This is the second major encounter in Kulgam in the last 5give weeks. Last month, an encounter continued for 11 days without much success against terrorists in the area. Two army soldiers were killed and 10 others were injured in the Akhal forest area of Kulgam district.
Earlier, two terrorists were killed in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Gurez sector. One of them was identified as Bagu Khan, popularly known as ‘human GPS’ – who was wanted by security forces for decades as he was involved in more than 100 infiltration bids since 1995. According to officials, he knew all the infiltration routes and used to facilitate them without getting caught – hence getting the name ‘human GPS’.
Officials found his identity card, which mentioned that he was a resident of Pakistan. Also known as ‘Samundar Chacha’, he was associated with terrorist Hizbul Mujahideen.
The other terrorist was also a Pakistani, sources said. However, he has not been identified.