Search Operation Underway To Track Down Three JeM Militants In Udhampur Forests

A search operation by a joint team of security forces is underway to track down three allegedly Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militants in a forested area of Udhampur district in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Friday.

A JeM militant alleged to be Pakistan-based, was killed in an encounter with security forces during an anti-militancy operation in the Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday. Three more militants remain trapped in the forested area of the Basantgarh belt.

Backed by drones and sniffer dogs, the operation resumed afresh this morning, with the cordon further strengthened by additional reinforcements to eliminate the remaining terrorists of the group, they added.

After being tracked for a year, they were confronted by a joint search party of the Army and police in the remote Bihali area of Basantgarh, on Thursday morning.

The militants were found hiding near Karoor Nallah and were engaged by the joint search party led by the Army’s Para Commandos, which resulted in an encounter.

One of the militants killed in the encounter has been identified as Haider, code-named Maulvi who is allegedly from Pakistan.

An Army spokesman said the militant was neutralised on Thursday evening. “The operation continues,” the spokesman of the Army’s White Knight Corps added, reported Hindustan Times.

The militants were moving from one area to another using forests and natural caves to hide with the support of overground workers (OGWs), it added. Five OGWs have been arrested during the last several months in the belt for providing food and shelter to militants.

It is also believed that a local militant who had allegedly returned from Pakistan after several years is actively supporting the militants.

Basantgarh lies on a traditional infiltration route of Pakistani terrorists who enter from the International Border in Kathua and move via higher reaches to Doda and Kishtwar districts in Jammu region and further into the Kashmir Valley. It has witnessed several encounters and terror incidents in the past.

Timeline of Recent Encounters and Attacks

On April 25, Havaldar Jhantu Ali Shaikh of the Army’s 6 PARA was killed in an encounter with terrorists in the Basantgarh area.

On April 9, an encounter broke out between security forces and terrorists in the Jopher-Marta belt of Basantgarh in Udhampur district.

On September 11 last year, two terrorists affiliated with the JeM were killed in an encounter in the upper reaches of Basantgarh.

A CRPF inspector was killed in another encounter with terrorists at Dudu on August 19, 2024.

On July 11, 2024, the Sang police post in Udhampur's Basantgarh came under attack by terrorists but was foiled by alert cops.

On April 28, 2024, a village defence guard, Mohammad Sharief, was killed in an encounter with terrorists in Basantgarh.