Rajouri: A fierce encounter is underway between security forces and terrorists in the Baji Mal area of Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir. The encounter started on Wednesday morning after the security forces launched a cordon and search operation (CASO) based on specific intelligence inputs. According to the latest reports, four army personnel, including two captains, have been martyred in the exchange of fire, while another soldier has been critically injured and shifted to Udhampur Hospital. The security forces have also recovered the body of one of the martyred officers from the forest.
The encounter site is located in a dense forest area near Solki village of Dharamsala police station in Kalakot tehsil of Rajouri. The area is close to the Line of Control (LoC) and is known to be an infiltration route for terrorists. The security forces have cordoned off the area and are trying to flush out the terrorists, who are believed to be hiding in the forest. The terrorists belong to some splinter groups of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Pakistan-Afghanistan Front (PAFF), which have been active in the region for some time. These groups were also involved in an earlier encounter on October 5, which resulted in the killing of one terrorist and the recovery of arms and ammunition.
The security forces got a tip-off about the presence of the terrorists when they visited a local resident’s house for dinner. The resident informed the police that two to three terrorists had come to his house and asked for food. The police then alerted the army and started a joint operation to track down the terrorists. The operation has been going on for the last four days, but the security forces faced difficulty in locating the terrorists due to the thick vegetation and rugged terrain. However, the security forces used various methods, including drones and sniffer dogs, to pinpoint the location of the terrorists and launched the CASO on Tuesday.
The encounter is still in progress and the security forces are expecting to neutralize the terrorists soon. The encounter has created a sense of grief and anger among the locals, who have condemned the terrorist attack and paid tribute to the martyred army personnel. The army and the police have also appealed to the people to stay away from the encounter site and cooperate with the security forces. The encounter is one of the deadliest in recent times and has exposed the nefarious designs of the terrorist groups operating in the region.
