J-K: JCO among 2 soldiers killed in gunfight with terrorists in Kishtwar

Two army personnel, including a junior commissioned officer (JCO), were killed and an equal number injured in an encounter with terrorists in the higher reaches of Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district on Friday, 13 September officials said.

The gunfight broke out when a joint security party of the Army and police, acting on a tip-off, launched a cordon-and-search operation in the Naidgham area in the Chhatroo belt connecting Kishtwar with south Kashmir's Anantnag district, they added.

The officials said there was an exchange of fire between the search team of the security forces and the terrorists hiding in the Pingnal Dugadda forest area in the upper reaches of Naidgham village located within the Chhatroo police station limits.

Four Army personnel were injured in the gunbattle and two of them -- Naib Subedar Vipan Kumar, a JCO, and Sepoy Arvind Singh -- later succumbed to their injuries, the officials said, adding that one of the soldiers died of splinter injuries caused by a grenade explosion and another of a bullet injury in the head.

The Army also confirmed the killing of the two soldiers.

"GOC (General Officer Commanding) White Knight Corps and all ranks salute the supreme sacrifice of the bravehearts; offer deepest condolences to the families," the Army said.

Earlier, the Army had said the search party exchanged a heavy volume of fire with the terrorists around 3:30 pm.

"In the ensuing firefight four army personnel have been injured. The operation is in progress," the Jammu-based White Knight Corps said in a post on X.

The officials said the injured soldiers were airlifted to an Army hospital after preliminary treatment at a local hospital.

The encounter comes two days after the Army, in a successful operation, neutralised two Pakistani terrorists affiliated with the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit in the higher reaches of Basantgarh in Udhampur district.

The Jammu and Kashmir unit of the Congress expressed grief over the killing of the two soldiers and prayed for a speedy recovery of the injured.

"The Congress strongly condemns the terrorist attack.... The BJP government has utterly failed to deal with terrorism, which has revived in the Jammu region after two decades," Pradesh Congress Committee vice-president Ravinder Sharma said in a statement.

He said the government must take urgent measures to check terror attacks, instead of making "hollow claims" of normalcy.