Srinagar: An army soldier was killed in a firefight with militants in Udhampur district of Jammu division on Thursday, April 24.

The encounter broke out two days after at least 25 tourists and a local Kashmiri horse attendant were gunned down by a group of four to five militants in the Baisaran meadow of south Kashmir’s Pahalgam health resort, prompting India to further downgrade ties with Pakistan. 

A spokesperson of the Army’s Jammu-based White Knight Corps said that the encounter broke out in Dudu-Basantgarh area of Udhampur where a search operation was launched on Thursday morning following information about the presence of militants in the area.

“Based on specific intelligence, a joint operation with Jammu and Kashmir Police was launched today in Basantgarh, Udhampur. Contact was established and a fierce firefight ensued. One of our bravehearts sustained grievous injuries in the initial exchange and later succumbed despite best medical efforts,” the White Knight Corps said.

The identity of the deceased soldier was not disclosed by officials when this report was filed. An army official said that more reinforcements have been rushed to the area and the counterinsurgency operation was underway.

A group of foreign militants are believed to be active in the Kathua-Udhampur belt of the Jammu division. They had held a family hostage earlier this month at their residential house in Chore Panjwa area of Udhampur district’s Majalta block and later decamped with some food items and a smartphone.

In the aftermath of the attack in Pahalgam, responsibility for which has been claimed by The Resistance Front, a Lashkar-e-Tayyaba offshoot, a massive search operation is underway to hunt down the perpetrators, some of whom singled out non-Muslims from the crowd of tourists before killing them.

Also read: In Numbers: Has Security in J&K Improved Since Modi Government’s Article 370 Move in 2019?

Following the reading down of Article 370 in 2019, the epicentre of conflict-related violence has shifted to the Jammu division which has witnessed a spike in the killings of civilians and security forces. On March 27, four policemen were killed during an encounter in Kathua district along the International Border.

On September 11 last year, two suspected Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists were gunned down in Udhampur district which witnessed a total of at least eight counter-insurgency operations in 2024.

According to official data, at least 26 security personnel, including army soldiers and 31 civilians were killed in militant attacks while 69 militants were gunned down in counterinsurgency operations across Jammu and Kashmir.

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