One militant was killed and a civilian was injured after a freshly infiltrated group of militants barged into a residential house in Jammu’s Kathua district on June 11 evening. In a separate incident, a joint checkpoint of the Army and the police was fired upon by militants in the Chenab Valley.
“Two terrorists, who appeared to have freshly infiltrated, surfaced in village Saida Sukhal near Koota Morh of the Police Station Hira Nagar in the late evening of June 11. They asked for water from a few houses to which villagers grew suspicious and slammed the doors on them and a few raised hue and cry. The terrorists panicked and fired randomly in the air, and also at one odd villagers who were passing by,” Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Jammu, Anand Jain said.
ADGP Jain said a police party, headed by Station House Officer and Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), was rushed to the spot and “engaged the terrorists”. “One terrorist got killed while lobbing a grenade at the police party,” the police said.
The J&K Police launched a major anti-militancy operation to locate another terrorist. The police with the help of CRPF cordoned off the area.
“A search party is clearing the houses one by one. A husband-wife duo has been evacuated to hospital. The wife is unhurt. The husband, Omkar Nath, is injured in the arm and appears to be stable,” a police spokesman said.
The J&K police urged locals “to assist and cooperate with the police in completing the operation logically and successfully so that the terrorists are killed and simultaneously the injured, if found, are evacuated for treatment”.
In a separate incident, militants opened fire at a joint checkpoint of the Army and the J&K Police in the Chenab Valley’s Doda district.
The target of the militants apparently was the Indian Army’s Temporary Operating Base. “In Chattergala (Doda), an exchange of fire took place. The Army’s 4 RR and the J&K Police checkpoint came under attack by terrorists. The exchange of fire is on in the area,” ADGP Jain said.
Initial reports suggested two soldiers sustained injuries in the exchange of fire. However, the Army could not immediately confirm any casualties.
The latest two incidents of militancy in the Jammu region have come just two days after militants opened fire on a bus carrying pilgrimage in Katra, killing nine civilians and injuring 33 others.
These attacks indicate that the militancy was spreading to other districts in the region. Militant violence after 2019 engulfed the twin districts of Poonch and Rajouri. However, the Sunday attack was reported in Reasi district adjacent to Rajouri and Kathua. Doda district of the Chenab Valley has also witnessed its first major attack this year.
