Soldier injured in encounter with Jaish terrorists in J&K’s Udhampur

A fierce encounter broke out on late September 19 in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district, leaving an Army soldier injured as security forces trapped three to four suspected Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists in the rugged Dudu-Basantgarh heights.

Acting on specific intelligence, a joint team of the Army, Special Operations Group (SOG) and police launched an operation in the area, sparking an intense gunfight. The Army’s White Knight Corps confirmed on X that “contact with terrorists” has been established along the Doda-Udhampur border, with the operation still underway.

The region has seen a spurt in militant activity. In June, top JeM commander Haider, active in the area for four years, was eliminated in the Dudu-Basantgarh forests. Earlier in April, an Army soldier was killed in a similar encounter in the Basantgarh belt.

Meanwhile, in a sweeping counter-intelligence crackdown, police raided multiple locations across seven districts of Kashmir Valley, recovering a huge cache of weapons, including 20 Chinese-made hand grenades, from the Poonch sector. Sources said the consignment, recently dumped, was meant to be pushed into the hinterland for terror strikes, but timely intel foiled the plan.

Security officials also seized incriminating digital devices and documents during the raids, underlining the scale of the terror network’s operations.