In the operation in Jakhole village in Ghati Juthana area of Rajbagh in Kathua, four policemen and three infiltrators had been killed till Friday evening, while seven armed forces personnel were injured. The operation started on Thursday morning, when armed forces established contact with infiltrators in Jhakole village.
Sanitisation of the area continued on Thursday night but heavy firing and explosions resumed the next morning. Officials said that during the drone surveillance, the body of a fourth policeman was spotted. They said a group of four-five infiltrators had crossed the international border recently from Hiranagar sector through a newly constructed tunnel in a ravine.
Police said it had recovered ammunition, bullet-proof jackets and other material from Sanyal village in Hiranagar, as the infiltrators had managed to flee from the cordon. Later, police said that the same group may have travelled to the encounter spot in Rajbagh area, around 30 km from Hiranagar.
Director general of J&K Police Nalin Prabhat and inspector general of police (Jammu zone) Bhim Sen Tuti have been overseeing the operation from Kathua for the past four days. The People’s Anti-Fascist Front, an offshoot of Jaish-e-Mohammed, claimed responsibility for the encounter on social media.
&K lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha said, “I bow to the valorous martyrs of J&K Police, who laid down their lives for our motherland. My deepest condolences to their families.”Chief minister Omar Abdullah said pride and grief intertwined as he remembered the policemen who laid down their lives during the operation in Kathua. “My heartfelt condolences to their families. Their sacrifice in the line of duty will always be remembered…,” he wrote on his official X account.
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