Srinagar: Two unidentified militants have been killed and three police personnel laid down their lives in an ongoing encounter in Kathua district, officials said on Friday (28 March).
A senior police official said that four security personnel including Dheeraj Katoch, a sub-divisional police officer (DySP) of J&K police, and a commando of the army’s elite para unit were also injured near the encounter site, which falls along the International Border.
The official said that the deceased police personnel have been identified as constables Tariq Ahmad, Jaswant Singh and Balwinder Singh. The trio was part of the DySP’s security detail.
The condition of the para commando is critical and he has been airlifted for specialised treatment while the DySP is believed to be stable.
The identity and affiliation of the slain militants has not been ascertained so far and it was not known whether their bodies have been recovered from the area.
The fate of the other three militants who are reportedly part of a recently infiltrated group was not known. However, officials said that the encounter was underway.
Three members of the security forces who were killed. Photo: By arrangement.
Kathua CASO comes under fire
Earlier in the day, officials said at least two police officials were injured in the gunfight when a search party of security forces came under fire during the anti-insurgency operation which has been going on in Kathua district of J&K since the last five days.
According to reports, a firefight broke out on Thursday morning when a team of police and other security forces, who have been involved in a massive cordon-and-search operation (CASO) in Kathua district of Jammu division since Sunday, came under fire in Sufain forest in the upper reaches of Jakhole village in Jothana area.
Officials said that the exchange of fire took place some 30 km from the encounter site in Hira Nagar on Sunday when a group of militants, who are believed to have infiltrated recently, exchanged fire with security forces and later managed to escape from the area.
On Sunday, a group of five suspected militants were spotted by residents of Sanyal village having taken up shelter inside a dhok, a temporary shelter built by tribal herdsmen who graze livestock in the foothills of the Pir Panjal and other mountain ranges surrounding J&K.
According to reports, the suspects were first spotted by Anita Devi, her husband Ganesh Kumar and brother-in-law while they were collecting firewood from a nursery adjoining their village which falls barely four kilometers from the International Border in Kathua.
Kumar told local reporters that the militants tried to catch hold of him and threatened to kill them were they to inform security forces about them.
Later, a team of the army, police and paramilitary forces arrived in the area on Sunday and started searches.
Minor suffers injury
An exchange of fire took place between the two sides which lasted for nearly 30 minutes. A seven-year-old girl suffered injuries during the skirmishes on Sunday but the cause of her injury was not confirmed by police.
Following the incident, a massive CASO involving the army, National Security Guard commandos, Border Security Forces and Central Reserve Paramilitary Forces as well as police was launched in the area on Sunday.
J&K top cop Nalin Prabhat has been camping in Kathua and leading the operation along with the crack teams of J&K Police’s anti-terror Special Operations Group.
Security forces involved in the operation have flown choppers, drones and UAVs to guide the ground teams while technical surveillance has been mounted in the treacherous area comprising deep ravines to track down the militants who are believed to have infiltrated on Saturday.
During the operation, security forces claimed to have recovered four M4 carbine magazines, two grenades, sleeping bags, a bulletproof jacket, tracksuits, eatables and bags containing material used for making Improvised Explosive Devices which were apparently dumped by the infiltrators near the scene of the firefight in Hira Nagar on Sunday.
‘Infiltration hotspot’
The district of Kathua, which falls on the International Border, has become one of the infiltration hotspots in Jammu and Kashmir with at least 18 security personnel laying down their lives while 13 suspected militants were gunned down in anti-insurgency operations last year.
While the insurgency-related violence showed a declining trend in Pir Panjal region, the militancy seems to have spread to the Chenab valley districts of Doda and Kishtwar, and Kathua, Udhampur and Jammu districts over the last couple of years.
On February 16, the bodies of two civilians – Shamsher and Roshan, which bore strangulation marks, were recovered in Billawar tehsil of Kathua. According to police, unidentified militants were involved in their killing.
On March 8, police recovered the bodies of 15-year-old Varun Singh and his uncles Yogesh Singh and Darshan Singh from a river. The trio had gone missing on March 5 during a wedding function and the Union minister Jitendra Singh had blamed militants for the killings.
Meanwhile, member of legislative assembly from Kathua Bharat Bhushan visited the Government Medical college in Kathua on Thursday where he enquired about the condition of the policeman who sustained injuries in the ongoing encounter.
Note: This report, first published at 6 pm on March 27, 2025, and then republished with updates at 10.13 pm on the same day, was further updated and republished at 9 am on March 28, 2025.
