Jammu:The anti-terrorist operation in Sonnar village of Chatroo area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district resumed Monday after security forces halted it due to limited visibility.
Eight Army soldiers were injured in the encounter between the terrorists and a team of the joint forces during the initial Cordon and Search Operation (CASO) January 18, when terrorists hurled grenades and fired at the team of joint forces.
Three injured soldiers were airlifted for treatment, while five were treated at a local medical facility.
Officials said most of the eight injured soldiers had sustained splinter injuries during the grenade explosion.
The officials said that after the nightlong halt, the joint forces resumed their search operation to hunt down terrorists believed to be hiding in the upper reaches.
The operation was suspended late last evening in the challenging terrain marked by thick vegetation and steep slopes, limiting visibility and movement.
Multiple teams of the Army, police, and paramilitary forces, supported by drones and sniffer dogs, are combing the area while maintaining a tight security cordon to ensure that the terrorists are not able to escape, officials said.
A group of two to three terrorists, reportedly affiliated with the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), are believed to be trapped in the area.
The operation was resumed with the first light today. There was no fresh contact with the terrorists.
Named ‘Operation Trashi-I’, the Army’s Nagrota-based White Knight Corps, in a post on X Sunday, said the security forces came in contact with the terrorists in the general area Sonnar, northeast of Chatroo, during the search operation conducted as part of ongoing joint counter-terror exercises along with Jammu and Kashmir Police.
“Operations remain underway with additional forces inducted to reinforce the cordon, supported by close coordination with civil administration and security agencies,” the Army said, commending the troops for their exceptional professionalism and resolve while responding to hostile fire under challenging terrain and conditions.
This encounter marks the third conflict between security forces and terrorists in the Jammu region this year.
Previous encounters occurred in the Kahog and Najote forests in the Billawar area of Kathua district January 7 and 13, respectively.
December 15 last year, a police officer was killed in an encounter with terrorists at Soan village in the Majalta area of Udhampur district.
The terrorists managed to escape, taking advantage of thick foliage and darkness. The encounters followed a major counter-terrorist operation launched in the forest belts of the Jammu region in December last year to flush out nearly three dozen holed-up terrorists.
Operations have been further intensified in the run-up to Republic Day to ensure peaceful celebrations, amid intelligence inputs about desperate attempts by Pakistan-based handlers to push more terrorists into the region, officials mentioned.
Hilly districts of Jammu division, including Kathua, Poonch, Rajouri, Kishtwar, Doda, Udhampur and Reasi, have been on the scanner of the security forces after intelligence reports that
Pakistani terrorists were moving in the highly forested mountain terrain of these districts.
Several times, joint forces have engaged the terrorists in Kathua, Udhampur and other districts in sustained encounters, but somehow the terrorists managed to escape from the cordoned off area, taking cover of the densely forested terrain and darkness during the night.
In the high-level security review meeting on Jammu and Kashmir January 8, chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi, the presence of terrorists in the hilly districts of the Jammu division was discussed threadbare.
HM Shah gave clear orders that coordinated, sustained and intelligence-backed operations must be carried out to eliminate terrorists from the mountainous areas and also ensure zero infiltration of terrorists from across the line of control (LoC) and the international border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir.
The LoC is 740 km long, and the IB is 240 km long in J&K. The Army guards the LoC while the Border Security Force (BSF) guards the IB.
LoC is situated in Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora districts of the Valley and partly in Jammu district. The IB is situated in Samba, Kathua and Jammu districts of the Jammu division.
