Just before Rath Yatra, terrorist killed in Jammu's Udhampur; three trapped

Srinagar: Armed forces on Thursday killed one terrorist in an ongoing operation in Basantgarh area of Udhampur in Jammu, where four infiltrators were suspected to be trapped at the encounter spot.

The White Knight Corps of the Indian Army said in the joint operation by Army and J&K Police, one infiltrator had been killed by evening. The armed forces had been tracking this group for more than one year.

The operation, codenamed Operation Bihali, comes ahead of the annual Amarnath yatra, which begins on July 3. The operation started on Thursday morning in a forested remote area of Bihali, where the Army and police launched a joint operation amid rain and fog following a specific input regarding the presence of suspected infiltrators allegedly associated with Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed.


"Contact was established with terrorists around 8.30 am... They are believed to be four in number and we have been tracking (this group) for the last one year," Bhim Sen Tuti, Jammu range IGP, told media persons on the sidelines of a function in Jammu.

He said a search operation was going on despite foggy conditions and the real picture would emerge once the weather improved.

Officials said the trapped infiltrators were found hiding near Karoor nallah of the area. The Jammu-based White Knight Corps said in a post on X, "Based on specific intelligence, a joint operation was launched by Indian Army and J&K Police in the Bihali area of Basantgarh. Contact has been established with terrorists. The operation is currently in progress."