A fierce firefight broke out between a heavily armed group of Pakistani terrorists and the joint team of security forces in the Chatroo area of Kishtwar late Friday evening ahead of the day-long visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bolster the party's poll campaign in the erstwhile Doda district which is headed to polls in the first phase of polling on September 18.
Two more terrorists were neutralized by the joint team of security forces in the Khandara top area of Basantgarh late Friday evening.
Sharing an update Rising Star Corps of the Indian Army posted on X, "In the Joint operation launched on 11 Sep Two Terrorists Neutralised & Large War Like Stores Recovered. Operations concluded"
Meanwhile, security has been further beefed up in and around the venue of the Prime Minister's rally in Doda. At the same time, a general alert has been sounded in the entire Jammu region to prevent any other incident of terrorist violence ahead of the first round of polling on eight Assembly seats in the region. Additional troops have been deployed at vulnerable places such as party offices, and venues of campaign meetings.
This is the third incident of terrorist violence in the Jammu region in the last five days.
Confirming the incident of a firefight, a spokesman of the Jammu and Kashmir police in a brief statement said, "Exchange of fire has taken place between search teams of security forces and hiding terrorists at Pingnal Dugadda forest area, upper reaches of Naidgham village under the jurisdiction of Police Station Chhatroo, District Kishtwar".
Official sources claimed a group of three terrorists believed to be the cadre of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit were trapped in the upper reaches of Chatroo. A team of the special forces of the Indian army and the jawans of the special operations group of Jammu and Kashmir police were carrying out searches in the area when a group of terrorists hiding inside a dhok( temporary structure) attempted to ambush the security personnel. Swift action by the elite para commandos resulted in the ensuing gunfight in the area. Unconfirmed reports claimed a soldier also received injuries and was evacuated to a nearby hospital.
On September 11, two heavily armed Pakistani terrorists, hiding in the upper reaches of Basantgarh bordering Kathua and Udhampur districts, were neutralized by the joint team of security forces.
On September 9, two heavily armed terrorists believed to be Pakistani were neutralized by the troops of the Indian army while they were attempting to infiltrate inside the Indian territory in the Laam sector of Nowshera in the frontier district of Rajouri on Monday.
The election managers are banking heavily on the popularity of the Prime Minister in the erstwhile Doda district.
BJP had won 4 out of 6 assembly seats in 2014 Assembly polls. This time the party is aiming to retain all its four seats and wrest at least two other seats from the opposition camp.
The BJP is facing a tough challenge in the region as the alliance partners Congress and the National Conference have been making all efforts to win more than two seats. Rahul Gandhi also visited Ramban to address an election rally. On the other hand, Omar Abdullah has also addressed a series of election meetings to boost the morale of the party workers.
A senior BJP leader told The Pioneer, "We are banking heavily on the booster dose which our Prime Minister is expected to administer to the party workers ahead of the first phase of polling". So far the party candidates have received an impressive response on ground zero.
The BJP is contesting all the seats in the Jammu region and aims to replicate its 2014 performance when it won 25 out of 37 seats in the region. PM Modi is also expected to visit the Valley on September 19 when he will address another BJP election rally in Srinagar city.
