Seven Soldiers Injured in Encounter With Terrorists During Operation Trashi-I in J&K’s Kishtwar
Seven soldiers were injured during an encounter with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district as Operation Trashi-I continues in challenging terrain.
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At least seven Indian Army soldiers were injured during an ongoing counter-terrorism operation in the rugged terrain of Kishtwar district in Jammu and Kashmir, official sources said on Saturday.
The incident occurred in the Chatroo area of Kishtwar, where security forces came under fire while conducting a search operation. The troops responded with heavy retaliation and successfully evacuated the injured personnel to a nearby hospital, the sources added.
The operation, named Operation Trashi-I, was launched around noon and is being led by the Indian Army’s Jammu-based White Knight Corps in coordination with the Jammu and Kashmir Police.
In a post on X, the White Knight Corps said that contact with terrorists was established in the Sonnar area, northeast of Chatroo, during a planned search as part of joint counter-terror exercises. The Army said the operation remains ongoing, with additional troops inducted to strengthen the cordon and close coordination maintained with civil authorities and other security agencies.
Officials said one of the search teams encountered two to three foreign terrorists, suspected to be linked to the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). The terrorists allegedly opened indiscriminate fire and hurled grenades in an attempt to break the security cordon.
The forces responded swiftly, and reinforcements from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and local police were rushed to the area. Intermittent exchanges of fire continued for some time, officials said.
To accelerate the operation, advanced surveillance equipment including drones and sniffer dogs has been deployed in the dense forested terrain.
This marks the third encounter in the Jammu region this year. Earlier, gunfights were reported in the Kahog and Najote forests in the Billawar area of Kathua district on January 7 and January 13. In December last year, a police officer was killed during an encounter in Udhampur district, where terrorists managed to escape under the cover of darkness and thick foliage.
Security operations across the Jammu region have been intensified following a major anti-terror drive launched in December to flush out nearly three dozen terrorists believed to be hiding in forest areas. Officials said heightened vigilance is being maintained ahead of Republic Day celebrations, amid intelligence inputs suggesting renewed attempts by Pakistan-based handlers to infiltrate terrorists into the region.
