Kathua encounter: Missing cop’s body found, toll rises to 7

While a fierce gunfight between security forces and terrorists erupted on Friday morning in Sufain forest of Jakhole village in Kathua district, the body of another policeman was found with the help of a drone near the spot where a gunfight took place a day before, said people familiar with the development.

With this, the death toll of policemen has now gone up to four.

This policeman was reported ‘untraceable’ after initial gunfight with the heavily armed terrorists on Thursday.

Three policemen were killed in action and three terrorists were also gunned down on Thursday during an intense day-long encounter.

Kathua SSP Shobhit Saxena said, “The operations are still on. It’s a vast hilly area having rugged terrain and dense forests. However, we have retrieved bodies of three policemen, who made supreme sacrifices in the line of duty on Thursday.”

Saxena said that families of the bravehearts have come to receive their bodies.

He said, “Bodies of the three terrorists have not been retrieved yet and they are lying at the encounter site.”

Trained by Pak army in guerilla warfare, these terrorists, after first gunfight, either lay booby traps or ambushes around bodies, to inflict losses on security forces.

When asked about number of terrorists hiding in the area, the SSP said, “We are not sure about their number. The area is vast, and security forces are moving in very cautiously because we don’t want to suffer further losses.”

When asked about sighting the body of the fourth policeman with the help of a drone camera, the SSP said that he can’t confirm it at this stage.

Sources divulged that five weapons of cops have gone missing from the encounter site after initial gunfight on Thursday

“It is being suspected that the fleeing terrorists have taken them along,” they said.

Later this evening, bodies of the three policemen were brought to government medical college in Kathua before being taken to district police lines in Kathua where DGP Nalin Prabhat and other senior officers laid wreaths on their mortal remains.

Thereafter, the bodies were sent to their respective homes in Kathua and Reasi districts for last rites.

Meanwhile, the fourth policeman, whose body was spotted on Friday with the help of a drone camera, was identified as head constable Jagbir Choudhary.

On Friday, heavy firing and explosions rocked the area as army’s para commandos from the elite special forces escalated their assault.

The army is being assisted by SOG of J&K Police and CRPF.

Chief minister Omar Abdullah wrote on X, “Pride and grief intertwine as we remember Balwinder Singh Chib, Jaswant Singh, and Tariq Ahmed, who laid down their lives during an anti-terror operation in Kathua, Jammu & Kashmir. My heartfelt condolences to their families. Their sacrifice in the line of duty will always be remembered. May the departed souls rest in peace, and heartfelt prayers for the swift recovery of those injured.”

On Thursday, seven security personnel including a deputy superintendent of police, were injured in the gunbattle.

“Army has deployed a helicopter, UAVs and sniffer dogs to eliminate remaining terrorists. The troops are moving cautiously while opening speculative fire,” said a senior army officer on the condition of anonymity.

“The possibility is that there could be two or more terrorists,” he added.

“A local woman, Darshana Devi had first seen the movement of two terrorists on Tuesday. The terrorists had demanded water from her. The woman had informed the police. Thereafter, local police launched searches while alerting Kathua SOG (special operations group),” they added.

“The SOG had seen a group of three to five terrorists out of whom three were gunned down on Thursday. We anticipate two more hiding in the dense jungle,” said sources.

In the past Pakistani terrorists have used the area as a transit route to reach Doda region.

Thursday’s encounter took place near Jakhole village in the Ghati Juthana area of Rajbagh.

A couple Ganesh Dass and his wife Anita Devi had first encountered the terrorists in Dolka forest near Saniyal village on Sunday. The couple fled the forest where it had gone to collect wood.

Security officials suspect that the same group sighted by the couple in Dolka forest in Saniyal had escaped from there and reached Jakhole with the help of local OGWs.

LG Manoj Sinha has also paid his respects to the fallen policemen.

“I bow to the valorous martyrs of J&K Police, who laid down their lives for our motherland. My deepest condolences to their families. In ongoing Kathua encounter several terrorists were neutralised. J&K Police & Security Forces are on the job. Operation in progress,” he wrote on X.

Meanwhile, security forces on Friday launched a search operation following reports of movement of suspected individuals in a forest in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district, officials said.

A joint team comprising police, Army, and CRPF began the operation in the forested area of Reasi this morning, they added.

Backed by surveillance equipment, the operation was underway to comb the dense terrain and track down any potential threats, the officials said.

The cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi is located in Reasi district and the operation comes ahead of the forthcoming Navratri festival.