Three terrorists belonging to Pakistan-based outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) were killed in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district on Sunday, officials confirmed.
The Army’s White Knight Corps said the operation, codenamed Trashi-I, was launched in the Passerkut area of the Chatroo belt following specific intelligence inputs from Jammu and Kashmir Police and other agencies. Troops of the Counter-Intelligence Force (Delta), operating under the Corps, carried out the joint operation along with police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
Security forces re-established contact with the terrorists around 11 am in difficult terrain after an earlier exchange of fire. The militants, reportedly hiding in a mud house at the foothills, opened fire on advancing troops, leading to a fierce gunbattle. The structure caught fire during the exchange, and the bodies of the three terrorists were later recovered in a charred condition.
Preliminary assessments suggest one of the slain terrorists is Saifullah, believed to be a senior JeM commander who had infiltrated into Jammu and Kashmir nearly five years ago. He was allegedly involved in multiple attacks, including a July 2024 assault in which four soldiers were killed.
Two AK-47 rifles and ammunition were recovered from the encounter site. The Army said search operations are ongoing to ensure complete sanitisation of the area.
With this operation, seven JeM terrorists have been eliminated in separate encounters across the Jammu region so far this year.