Palli panchayat, 17 km from Jammu city, was virtually sealed with local police and paramilitary personnel including Border Security Force and Central Reserve Police Force deployed in strength to keep a strict vigil.
Six terrorists were killed and two soldiers laid down their lives in twin encounters in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam district, officials said on Sunday.
The first batch of pilgrims reached Kashmir on Friday for the annual Amarnath Yatra, beginning Saturday, with J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha flagging off 4,603 yatris in the morning from the Bhagwati Nagar Yatri Niwas base camp in Jammu under a tight security cover.
Police personnel checked vehicles and conducted flag marches at various places in Punjab on Wednesday while central forces maintained a tight vigil in Tripura.
As controversy raged over Yati Narsinghanand's objectionable remarks against Prophet Muhammad, his supporters on Sunday alleged that the Dasna temple head priest is being illegally kept in detention by police, which denied the claim.
The first phase of polling, held on September 18, saw an estimated 61.38 per cent voter turnout, while the final phase is set to take place on October 1 in the crucial elections being held after 10 years.
The recent ambush of an Army truck in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch bears a "striking resemblance" to a terrorist attack on a police vehicle in neighbouring Rajouri district 22 years ago, security officials have said, expressing serious concerns.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday praised the Indian Army as one of the most trusted and inspiring organisations in the country, highlighting its significant role in safeguarding borders, combating terrorism and assisting civil administration in times of need.
The Union Budget 2024-25 on Tuesday allocated Rs 2,19,643 crore to the Ministry of Home Affairs with the majority of it -- Rs 1,43,275 crore -- being given to central police forces like Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) which are responsible for internal security, border guarding, and security of vital installations.
Kashmir police chief Vijay Kumar has directed personnel to apprehend those responsible for the attack as soon as possible.
According to sources, a group of armed terrorists tried to enter into Battal forward area of the Krishnagati belt but alert troops picked up their movement and immediately took action.
More than a dozen Mountain Rescue Teams assisted thousands of pilgrims during this year's Amarnath pilgrimage in the south Kashmir Himalayas, officials said on Monday, as the annual yatra concluded with more than 5.10 lakh pilgrims offering prayers at the cave shrine.
The officials said helicopters and drones were pressed into the service to help the forces, who are also using human and technical intelligence inputs to aid the search operation which has been launched to trace and neutralise the terrorists behind the attack.
The three include a couple and a teenager, who are suspected of providing food to the terrorists and failing to report their movements to the security forces, sources said.
On Monday night, BSF troops resorted to firing briefly along the India-Pakistan border in the Jammu district after hearing a humming sound which led to a suspicion that a drone was flying around.
The security forces unearthed this information while interrogating the members of the twin modules busted by the police in Rajouri recently.
Just two days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Jammu and Kashmir, security forces on Friday foiled a suicide attack in Jammu by the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed, eliminating two suspected Pakistani terrorists in an encounter after they fired on a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) bus and killed an officer.
Facing flak over its alleged link with arrested Lashkar-e-Tayiba (LeT) terrorist Talib Hussain Shah, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday issued a show-cause notice to party's Jammu Minority Morcha president Sheikh Bashir after an order purportedly written by him about the appointment of Shah as official of the unit emerged on social media platforms.
An unidentified terrorist and a soldier were killed in an overnight encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district, officials said on Wednesday.
President Droupadi Murmu conferred 26 Shaurya Chakras (seven posthumous) to personnel of the armed forces, Central Armed Police Forces and state/Union Territory Police during a defence investiture ceremony.
To ensure a comprehensive probe, the search operation to track down the terrorists, has been expanded to cover Reasi district's far-flung Arnas and Mahore areas which were terrorist hotbeds between 1995 and 2005.
Officials said one more terrorist is believed to be trapped in the operation area at Khandara top and efforts are on to neutralize him.
Several deaths were reported across the country due to rain-related incidents like lightning strikes and drowning.
A large number of men, women and children -- carrying black flags -- poured out on roads in Magam in Budgam and Zadibal in the city to protest against the killing, officials said.
The home minister also reviewed the preparations for the annual Amarnath pilgrimage scheduled to begin on June 29.
Two alleged overground workers (OGWs) were arrested for their involvement in a terror attack on an army patrol party in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, the police said.
At least four terrorists were killed and two soldiers laid down their lives in twin encounters in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, officials said.
'The Galwan clash in 2020 resulted in a large number of troops being moved from J&K to Eastern Ladakh which caused a thinning of deployment in the Jammu area.'
A government school teacher-turned Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist was arrested for allegedly carrying out multiple blasts, including one in a bus carrying Vaishno Devi pilgrims, with the intention to damage communal harmony and revive terrorism in the Jammu region, J-K Director General of Police Dilbag Singh said on Thursday.
Five troopers of the Rashtriya Rifles and a special police officer were injured Tuesday night when the terrorists attacked a joint check post in the upper reaches of Chattergalla on the Bhaderwah-Pathankot road in the hilly district.
Two women pilgrims from Punjab and Uttar Pradesh died while a five-year-old girl was grievously injured in a landslide on the new track to the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district on Monday, officials said.
People's Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti and several other regional party leaders on Monday claimed that they have been placed under house arrest on the fifth anniversary of the reading down of Article 370 of the Constitution that provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
'The visit of the honourable PM with the workable strategy towards conflict resolution will help greatly.' 'But visiting the state without concrete proposals may not bring the desired outcome at this stage.'
Nine people including three women were killed and 33 injured as a bus carrying pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh and Delhi plunged into a deep gorge after an ambush by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district on Sunday evening, police said, as political leaders cutting across party lines strongly condemn the dastardly attack.
Nine people were killed in the attack on the vehicle that was carrying pilgrims from the Shiv Khori temple to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra. The 53-seater bus veered off the road due to indiscriminate firing by the terrorists and fell into the gorge near Teryath village in the Poni.
This was the first encounter between terrorists and security forces in Jammu and Kashmir in more than three months.
'INDIA will easily cross 50 seats out of 90 in Jammu and Kashmir.'
'With all outlets of public expression virtually choked for the last five years, suppressed anger and frustration is looking for an opening via the ballot box.' 'There is no escape from the inevitability of the 'Engineer Rashid' factor surfacing in a big enough way to upset everyone's applecart,' alerts Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs.
The gunfight, lasting more than an hour, took place at Jaddan Bata village in the Kastigarh area around 2 am when the terrorists opened fire on a temporary camp established in a government school for the ongoing search operation, they said.
A massive manhunt is underway for three foreign terrorists, possibly of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, responsible for the deadly attack on pilgrims in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi that resulted in the loss of nine lives, including a two-year-old, officials involved in the investigation said on Monday.
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