The Wire Staff 
Srinagar: In a third targeted attack in Jammu, a junior commissioner officer (JCO) of the army was killed while three more soldiers were injured in a targeted attack by militants in Kishtwar district of Chenab valley.
Security agencies were on the lookout for a group of militants, who were involved in the killing of two village defence guards (VDG) in Munzla Dhar forests of Kishtwar district last week.
A senior police officer said that during a counter-terrorism operation by a joint team of J&K Police and Army on Sunday morning in the forests of Keshwan area, a group of militants opened fire on security forces, resulting in injuries to four army personnel.
Among the victims, a paratrooper identified as Rakesh Kumar of 2 Para, succumbed to injuries. The slain soldier was a junior commissioner officer (naib subedar). The army’s strategic White Knight Corps based in Jammu confirmed his death.
“#GOC #WhiteknightCorps and all ranks salute the supreme sacrifice of #Braveheart, Nb Sub Rakesh Kumar of 2 Para (SF). Sub Rakesh was part of a joint #CT operation launched in general area of # Bhart Ridge #Kishtwar on 09 Nov 2024. We stand with bereaved family in this hour of grief,” the White Knight Corps posted on X.
The condition of the other three injured soldiers is believed to be stable and they have been shifted to a hospital, reports said.
The officer said that additional security forces have been deployed in the area and surveillance has been mounted around a forested area where the militants are believed to be hiding, “The operation is underway,” the officer said.
Amid reports that Sunday’s attack was carried out a few kilometres from the spot where the bullet-riddled bodies of two VDGs were recovered by security forces on November 7, the army said that it was the same group of militants who were involved in the abduction and killing.
The attack took place three days after two VDGs – Nazir Ahmad and Kuldeep Kumar – who had gone to a forest in the higher reaches of Kuntwara in Chatroo tehsil on November 7 were shot and killed by militants affiliated with Kashmir Tigers outfit, which is believed to be an offshoot of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad.
The Chenab valley which comprises the hilly Kishtwar, Doda and Ramban districts has witnessed an uptick in militant activities in recent months.
According to officials, nearly a dozen groups of militants in twos and threes have been operating in Chenab Valley and the adjoining Pir Panjal region who have inflicted heavy body blows on security forces over the last three years.
The attack in Kishtwar was the third militant attack in a fortnight in Jammu division which has emerged as a new theatre of conflict in J&K after a division of the army in Pir Panjal region was shifted to the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh in 2020 to tackle the Chinese aggression after the Galwan clashes.
On October 29, an army ambulance was unsuccessfully ambushed in Battal area of Jammu by a group of three militants, who had recently infiltrated into Jammu from Akhnoor sector along the Line of Control.
All the three militants involved in the attack were gunned down in an anti-insurgency operation which lasted for more than 15 hours in the area. An army dog identified as Phantom was also injured in the encounter. The canine later succumbed to its injuries.
Meanwhile, in a fifth encounter in Kashmir Valley in the past three days, security forces and suspected militants exchanged gunfire in the capital Srinagar on Sunday morning. Reports said that a search operation was launched by a joint team of security forces in the Zabarwan forest flanking Srinagar city when suspected militants opened fire at them.
According to reports, security forces retaliated to the fire, which resulted in a brief gunfight in the area between the two sides. Zabarwan mountains fall on the periphery of Sindh and Lidder valleys which have witnessed heightened militant activity following the reading down of Article 370 by the Union government in 2019.
Additional security forces have been deployed in the area after the militants reportedly slipped into a nearby forest following a heavy exchange of fire. “Firing has stopped but searches are underway,” reports said.