Tensions escalated along the LoC in Keri Battal area of Akhnoor Sector in Jammu after a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) of the Indian Army succumbed to his injuries soon after thwarting a major infiltration bid aided by the Pakistan Army late Friday night. In Kishtwar, firing resumed on Saturday, hours after senior Army and police officers briefed the media about the ongoing anti-terror operation in which three terrorists have so far been neutralised by a joint team of security forces.
The Indian Army also sounded high alert and launched massive searches in the forward areas of Akhnoor Sector after rushing reinforcements to prevent any fresh infiltration bid.
The suspected movement of heavily armed infiltrators was caught on camera by surveillance grid within 48 hours of the Brigade Commander- level Flag Meeting near Chakan-da-bagh area of Poonch on Thursday.
Since February 21, three Brigade Commander-level Flag Meetings have been organised between India and Pakistan to adhere to the ceasefire agreement.
Despite suffering heavy losses in retaliatory firing in response to their ‘unprovoked’ violation of the ceasefire agreement on Ground Zero, the Pakistan Army is desperately attempting to escalate tensions along the Line of Control (LoC) by pushing heavily armed terrorists inside the Indian boundaries to disturb peace in the region. Earlier, on February 11, 2025, two Army personnel, including a Captain, were ‘killed in action’ and another injured when terrorists set off an Improvised Explosive Device (IED).
The Indian Army identified the killed JCO as Subedar Kuldeep Chand of 9-Punjab. A resident of Kohlvi village in Naudan Assembly constituency of Himachal Pradesh, Kuldeep Chand is survived by his wife, son, daughter and elderly parents.
"He said down his life while gallantly leading a counter-infiltration operation along the LoC in Keri-Battal area of Sunderbani on April 11 night," Nagrota-based White Knight Corps said in a post on ‘X’.
Hailing the supreme sacrifice made by the braveheart, General Upendra Dwivedi, COAS, and All Ranks of the Indian Army paid tributes to Subedar Kuldeep Chand.
Before dispatching his mortal remains to his native village in Himachal Pradesh a wreath-laying ceremony was held at the military garrison in Tanda in Jammu’s Akhnoor. His cremation will be done with full military honours on Sunday.
In Kishtwar, the security forces had engaged the terrorists after killing three of them, at the time of filing of this report.
The exact number of terrorists hiding in the dense forest area of Chatroo was not immediately known.
Briefing the media in Kishtwar, Brigadier JBS Rathi, Commander of 5 Sector Assam Rifles, accompanied by Deputy Inspector General of Police, Doda-Kishtwar-Ramban Range, Shridhar Patil said the operation will continue till all terrorists present in the area were eliminated.
Brigadier Rathi said the Indian Army, J&K Police and CRPF launched a search operation on April 9 after receiving inputs about the movement of terrorists in the area. In the ensuing firefight, three terrorists were killed.
Some media reports claimed Jaish-e-Mohammad Commander Saifullah along with his accomplice was neutralized, but DIG Shridhar Patil and Brigadier Rathi maintained on Saturday that the identity of the killed terrorists was yet to be established. The security forces have also recovered M4 and AK rifles from the encounter site.
Security forces kill three Maoists in Chhattisgarh
Three Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Saturday morning, police said.
The gunfight broke out in a forest in the Indravati National Park area around 9am when a joint team of security forces was out on an anti-Naxalite operation, Inspector General of Police, Bastar Range Sundarraj P, said.
Personnel of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) from Bijapur and Dantewada districts, Special Task Force (STF), 202nd and 210th battalions of CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action — an elite unit of the CRPF) were involved in the operation, he said. The DRG is a unit of the State police.
The official said bodies of three Naxals and a cache of weapons and explosives were recovered from the spot. The operation was underway in the area, he added. As many as 138 Naxals have been gunned down in different encounters in the State so far this year. Of them, 122 were eliminated in Bastar division, comprising seven districts, including Bijapur.
