Militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Umar Khatab was killed and an army jawan wounded in a fierce gun-battle in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Sunday. Khatab was killed in a gunfight with security forces in Bhatti-Dar area at Mendhar early on Sunday morning, said Brigadier General Staff (16 Coprs) S Dua. Acting on specific information that some militants were hiding in Bhatti-Dar area, Rashtriya Rifles troops and the police launched a search-and-cordon operation.
Indian Army soldiers patrol the Line of Control at Pallanwala in Akhnoor ahead of Independence Day.
Two women were killed and two other persons were injured in indiscriminate firing by a trooper of the Territorial Army in the border town of Poonch in Jammu region in the morning on Wednesday.
There is no casualty on Indian side.
Violating the ceasefire yet again, Pakistan troops targeted five Indian posts with rockets and heavy machine gun fire along the LoC in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.
The vehicles came under attack in the Savni area on the Rajouri-Thanamandi-Surankote road around 3.30 pm.
So far, there are no reports of casualties or injuries and a gunbattle is underway.
Two terrorists, including a top Lashkar-e-Tayiba (LeT) commander trained in Afghanistan, were killed in a gunfight with security forces on Thursday in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, officials said.
'If there is a military standoff eyeball to eyeball on the western border, the Chinese could create problems by making movements in the north, in our northeast, which could involve us tying down some forces there so that could stretch our military actions.'
The condition of the injured is stated to be stable, the officials said.
A soldier was killed in indiscriminate firing by Pakistani troops in Krishna Ghati sector in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Sunday night. The unprovoked firing appears to have escalated tension along the border ahead of United States President Barack Obama's visit to India. According to official sources, Pakistani troops targeted the Indian posts of Kirpan, Kranti and Kirpan-II from their forward posts of Chuha and Daaku.
One militant was killed in an encounter while three others remained holed up in the border area of Mendhar in Poonch district in Jammu & Kashmir, after their infiltration bid was foiled by security forces on Wednesday. A joint team of the Army and state police launched combing operations in Chajla area of Mendhar, soon after receiving inputs that a group of four militants had sneaked into the Indian side from across the Line of Control.
On Monday, five Army personnel were killed and five injured when heavily armed terrorists hurled a grenade and opened indiscriminate fire on two army vehicles around 3.30 pm on the Machedi-Kindli-Malhar mountainous road near Badnota village, about 150 km from the district headquarters Kathua.
The local recruitment of terrorists in the Pakistan-sponsored terror groups is also very low as only four locals have joined these groups this year, Army officials told ANI.
The terrorists holed up in the 'natural caves' have resorted to intermittent firing ever since the army operation began on December 31, which has resulted in the death of two army troopers and a special police officer. The army says that it has so far eliminated four terrorists, but their bodies have not been recovered yet.
The latest ceasefire violations -- the tenth and eleventh in less than a week -- has come a day after an Army jawan was killed when Pakistani troops opened fire at forward posts along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district.
Five army personnel were killed and six injured on Monday when terrorists ambushed their vehicle in the remote Machedi area of Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, officials said.
The fierce gunfight was going on in the area with the induction of more troops to neutralise two terrorists trapped at the spot, they said.
Jammu and Kashmir is facing a severe water crisis this year due to a massive rainfall deficit. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has expressed concern about the situation and called for a proactive approach towards water management and conservation. The state has witnessed an 80% deficit in rainfall this year, raising the possibility of drought in the valley this summer. Several water bodies are flowing below the zero level mark, and some springs in south Kashmir have dried up completely. The water level in Jhelum and other major streams is alarmingly low.
A defence spokesman in Jammu said miscreants fired three rocket propelled grenade rounds at Nangi Tekri posts in the Krishna Gathi area in the Poonch district on Saturday morning
Five passengers of a mini bus were killed and seven others wounded in a deadly improvised explosive device blast at Marah village in the frontier Poonch district of Jammu region on Tuesday evening.
This has also raised concerns over undetected infiltrations from across the Line of Control and terrorists potentially residing in the outskirts of cities and villages, they said.
In the first ceasefire violation this year, Pakistani troops fired at Indian posts along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Wednesday morning.
With 19 border polling stations along the Line of Control in Rajouri and Poonch, a contingency plan has been worked out to deal with cross-border shelling though chances are negligible given the ongoing ceasefire between India and Pakistan that came into effect in February 2021, officials said.
The soldiers' families were inconsolable as they waited for them to come home one last time.
The last journey of the five jawans martyred in the attack by Pakistan soldiers began in the evening from Poonch town with Army officers laying wreaths on their caskets.
There was a ceasefire violation by Pakistan Army on a forward post in Mankote-Balnoie sector.
They said a sniper is believed to have targeted the truck from the front before the other terrorists sprayed bullets and lobbed grenades on it.
The Indian Army has increased its operational footprint in the Jammu region, including the strategic occupation of the upper reaches of the Pir Panjal range, a senior officer said. The army is playing a pivotal role in military-civilian coordination in creating a stable environment in the region, the officer said, adding that the force will continue its efforts to promote peace, security, and development in the area.
A Defence spokesman said the ultras opened heavy fire on search parties resulting in critical injuries to the JCO and four other personnel.
A statement from the Army's Northern Command said its personnel have been conducting 'relentless intelligence-based operations to flush out a group of terrorists involved in an ambush on an Army truck in the Tota Gali area of Bhata Dhurian in Jammu region last month'.
As part of the heightened security arrangements in view of Modi's visit, the officials said, the BSF and the police conducted a joint two-hour-long anti-tunnelling operation in the Ramgarh sector of Samba district.
The Bharatiya Janata Party termed Mufti's temple visit a "political gimmick."
The BJP has emerged the second largest party by winning 29 constituencies in the maiden assembly polls post abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, improving its all-time high tally of 25 seats recorded in 2014 elections.
Less than a week after five soldiers were killed in an ambush at the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmi, Pakistan on Monday violated the bilateral ceasefire in the Poonch sector along the Line of Control, according to a defence spokesperson.
The manhunt for the terrorists responsible for the ambush in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, which resulted in the tragic death of five army personnel, has led to the detention of a truck driver and 50 others for questioning, officials said on Wednesday.
Pakistani troops on Saturday evening violated the ceasefire on the Line of Control at two places in the Mendhar sector of Poonch district of Jammu region.
Six persons were found dead on the spot and five more succumbed to injuries while being evacuated from the scene.
As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi are on a visit to Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistani troops on Tuesday violated ceasefire for the fourth time this month by opening firing on Indian posts along the Line of Control in the Poonch district.
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