Operation Trashi-I: top JeM commander among 3 killed in J&K's Kishtwar

Three foreign infiltrators, including top Jaish-e -Muhammad commander Saifullah, were killed in an ongoing operation in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday.

Army officials said this was a major breakthrough for the security grid as Saifullah carried a reward of Rs 20 lakh on his head and was active in the Chenab valley for over five years. He had managed to flee from multiple encounter spots and operations. On February 13, J&K police had also raised an alert on Saifullah, and pasted his posters in several areas of Kishtwar seeking information from the public.

Officials informed that with the killing of these three, all the seven foreign infiltrators active in Doda and Kishtwar districts have been killed.


"This is a major breakthrough and 2 Para Special Forces of the Army have been after this group for some time now. Saifullah was involved in several attacks against the forces. No foreign terrorist is active in Kishtwar and Doda now," a senior army official told ET. Army informed that after receiving intelligence inputs, ‘Operation Trashi-I’ was launched to track the infiltrators.

“After successful contact was established, troops of CIF Delta White Knight Corps, in coordination with J&K police and CRPF, re-engaged the terrorists on Sunday at approximately 11:00 am in a challenging terrain. Displaying tactical precision, seamless synergy and resolute aggression, troops dominated the encounter site wherein three terrorists have been successfully neutralised,” read the Army statement.

They informed that war-like stores, including three AK-47 rifles, have also been recovered from the spot. “The hunt continues–– those who seek to disturb peace will find no sanctuary”, read the statement of the Indian Army's White Knight Corps. "They were in a dhok (mud hut) of nomadic population in the mountains. During the exchange of fire, the hut caught fire and the bodies were charred," said an official privy to operational details.

With the three killings on Sunday, a total of seven infiltrators were killed in separate encounters in Jammu so far this year. Operation Trashi-I is continuing in Kishtwar area from January 18, this year.

Operation Trashi-I is continuing in Kishtwar area from January 18, this year, in which special forces personnel havaldar Gajender Singh of 2 Para was killed and seven other personnel were injured on January 22.

Later, an infiltrator was killed in the same operation on February 4. Since then, the army continued search and surveillance in the area.

Over the past few weeks, the armed forces have detained and questioned several locals from Chatroo of Kishtwar where the initial gun fight started.

Police and the army maintain that despite fresh ceasefire between Indian and Pakistani Army since February 2021, several infiltrators have managed to cross the Line of Control and International Border and are active in Jammu and some parts of Kashmir. Foreign infiltrators remain “a major challenge” for the security grid, according to them. Security forces have been engaged in massive anti-terrorism operations, especially in high-altitude areas across Jammu, where foreign infiltrators are hiding in the dense forest areas, for more than three years now.

A multi-agency report in November 2025 put the total number of local militants operating across J&K in single digits while the number of “foreigners/infiltrators" active here was about 150, with around 70 of them in Kashmir Valley and the rest in Jammu division.