Jammu, Mar 27: Two terrorists were killed and five security personnel injured in an encounter between the security forces and hiding terrorists in J&K's Kathua district on Thursday, officials said.

Official sources said that Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Dheeraj Katoch and four other policemen sustained injuries during the exchange of gunfire between the security forces and the terrorists in the Juthana area of Kathua,

The injured policemen were shifted to the hospital for treatment, where the condition of two is reported to be critical.

The identity of the slain terrorists and their affiliation are being ascertained as the operation against the terrorists is still going on in the area, sources said.

After massive searches during the last four days, firing exchanges had started again between the joint forces and the terrorists in Kathua in the morning.

"Contact has been re-established with militants in the forest area of Juthana under police station Rajbagh in Kathua," an official said earlier in the day.

Security forces launched a search operation in the area during the early hours. Massive searches initially started in the Sanyal village of Hiranagar Tehsil and spread to other adjoining areas as the terrorists had not responded to any speculative firing by the security forces after the initial exchange of fire on Sunday.

A local woman informed the police on Tuesday that two men, in army uniform, asked her for water while they were having food in the area.

This prompted the area to be cordoned off. Security was tightened along the Jammu-Pathankot National Highway in the Samba-Kathua section, with increased vigilance on border roads, officials said.

The search operation was carried out in multiple areas from Sanyal to Ding Amb and beyond, covering several kilometers.

The operation, involving the Army, the National Security Guard, the Border Security Force, police, the Special Operations Group, and the Central Reserve Police Force, armed with technical and surveillance equipment, was supported by helicopters, UAVs, drones, bulletproof vehicles, and sniffer dogs.

Security agencies had questioned several persons in various areas and picked up three suspects for questioning, the officials said.

During the search operation on Tuesday, security forces recovered two grenades among other material.

The tracksuits found among a large cache of ammunition and other materials in the Sanyal forests were identical to those worn by the four Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) terrorists killed in the Assar forests and Doda in June and August last year.

Local people in the areas have joined the operation by security forces and urged those living in other areas to remain vigilant and inform of any movement of suspected persons in their areas.

Several village heads have requested people to come forward with information about the movement of terrorists in their areas.

The operation, led by the Jammu and Kashmir DGP Nalin Prabhat, was launched on Sunday evening in the Hiranagar sector following an encounter between security forces and terrorists hiding in a nursery.

The Special Operations Group of J&K police initiated the operation after receiving intelligence about terrorists hiding inside a ''dhok'' (local enclosure) in a nursery in Sanyal village, approximately five km from the International Border with Pakistan, officials said.

The hiding terrorists opened fire on the police team, resulting in a gunfight lasting over half an hour. Reinforcements were promptly dispatched as a manhunt began to apprehend the terrorists believed to have infiltrated on Saturday via either a ravine route or a newly constructed tunnel.

Initial firing did not cause any casualties, and the area remained under tight security overnight before security forces moved in again at dawn, officials said.

The International Border between India and Pakistan is situated in the district, and in the past, terrorists have attempted to sneak into the Indian side over the border.

Recently in Kathua, three civilians -- Darshan Singh, 40, Yogesh Singh, 32, and Varun Singh, 14 -- went missing on March 5 while returning from a wedding in Marhoon village. Their bodies were discovered on March 8 near a waterfall on the edge of an escarpment in a wooded area following an extensive search involving the Army, police, drones, and sniffer dogs.

“The brutal killing of three relatives by terrorists in the Bani area of Kathua is extremely sad as well as a matter of great concern," Union Minister Jitendra Singh said in a post on X.

In the wake of the incident, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan came to Jammu on March 9 and chaired a high-level security meeting regarding the safe and peaceful Amarnath Yatra beginning on July 3 and the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL), which is being inaugurated by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on April 19.

The Home Secretary laid emphasis on the security situation in the Jammu division while giving detailed directions on the overall security situation in the UT.

--IANS

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