KISHTWAR, SEPT 13: Two Army personnel were martyred and two others injured during an encounter with terrorists in the Chatroo area of Kishtwar district on Friday. The encounter occurred just five days before the region went to the polls in the first phase of the Union Territory’s Assembly elections.
The White Knight Corps, based in Nagrota, confirmed that four soldiers had been injured in the firefight, with two succumbing to their injuries en route to Chatroo Hospital. The encounter took place as security forces engaged with terrorists in the forests near the Pingnal Dugadda area under the Chatroo police station’s jurisdiction.
According to sources, intelligence inputs led to the joint operation involving the Army and J&K Police. Contact was made with the terrorists around 3:30 pm, and the operation, dubbed Op Shahpurshal, is ongoing. Reports suggest two to three terrorists are still hiding in the forest, and additional reinforcements have been deployed to the area.
This gunbattle comes a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to Doda, where he will address a public rally. It will be the first visit by a sitting Prime Minister to the region in decades. Security has been heightened in Kishtwar and nearby districts like Doda and Ramban in preparation for the upcoming elections, with increased Army presence and ongoing seek-and-destroy operations in the forests.
The region will vote in the first phase of the Assembly elections on September 18, alongside parts of South Kashmir. Doda, Kishtwar, and Ramban, part of the Chenab Valley region, will send eight representatives to the Assembly, including two newly formed constituencies, Doda West and Padder-Nagseni, following the 2022 delimitation.
In the 2014 Assembly elections, the BJP won four out of six seats in the Chenab Valley, and it aims to replicate that success in the upcoming polls.
Meanwhile, Kashmir Police also informed about another encounter in North Kashmir region’s Baramulla district. An encounter between joint team of Security Forces and terrorists began at Kreeri area.
