The operation to neutralise the terrorists involved in the encounter that led to the killing of four security forces personnel continued for the second day on Thursday, September 14, 2023.
Defying apprehensions of the horrific April 22 terror Pahalgam attack casting a shadow on the Amarnath Yatra this year, hundreds of pilgrims from various parts of the country lined up at the registration centre in Jammu on the first day.
Frontline militant group Hizbul Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for the explosion.
Major Ketan Sharma, the 29-year-old officer, was killed in an encounter in Achabal area of the south Kashmir district on Monday. A terrorist was also killed in the gun fight which broke out after the security forces launched a cordon-and-search operation in the area.
A flood alert was sounded on Thursday in Srinagar city as River Jhelum was flowing four feet above the danger mark after incessant rain, while 23 villages have been inundated by floods in south Kashmir districts of Anantnag and Kulgam.
Four persons were killed while scores of others were rescued when avalanches struck the Kashmir Valley after unprecedented snowfall.
Three terrorists were gunned down in an encounter with security forces in Anantnag.
The nomination papers of 35 candidates including that of jailed separatist Sarjan Barkati were on Wednesday rejected during scrutiny for the first phase of assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, leaving 244 contestants in the fray.
Mehbooba Mufti, his eldest child, will likely succeed him.
'Pakistan's only concern has been while they were on the FATF watch list was to distance their State institutions and organs from any direct connection with the actual execution of militancy inside Kashmir.'
As news started pouring in about the plight of the stranded tourists, the administration swung into action and started free boarding and lodge for the tourists.
So far 14 Kashmiri Pandits have filed nominations to contest from the valley for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, aiming to ensure the return and rehabilitation of their fellow community members, whose number run up to 3 lakh.
The encounter broke out on Thursday night at Kanibal in Bijbehara of Anantnag district, when the police along with the army and Central Reserve Police Force cordoned off a village following an intelligence input about the presence of terrorists, they said.
Kashmir is currently under the grip of 'Chillai-Kalan' -- the 40-day harshest winter period when a cold wave grips the region
The withdrawal of the candidature by DPAP leaders on the last day on August 30 is seen as a boost to the NC-Congress alliance.
Defying Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani's diktat to Kashmiris against joining police service in the Valley, thousands of youths have opted for the job of special police officer.
The army has quietly moved an entire brigade into south Kashmir to clear it of militants and protesters.
The anti-encroachment drive by Jammu and Kashmir administration intensified on Saturday as the land illegally occupied by 'influential persons' was retrieved at many places in the valley, officials said.
Deepu Kumar (27) was expecting his first child in June but his life was cut short in a terror attack in south Kashmir's Anantnag district, leaving his poor family without its sole breadwinner.
The bypoll assumes significance as Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is seeking her election to the assembly from the constituency.
One AK-47 rifle, ammunition and two hand grenades were recovered by the police from the encounter site.
The terrorists hurled a grenade on a security patrol outside the heavily guarded Deputy Commissioner's office complex in Anantnag town around 11 am.
Indefinite curfew was clamped on Sunday in Srinagar and six other towns of Kashmir Valley in view of several incidents of arson and violence on Saturday, official sources said.
Amid unabated targeted killings in Kashmir, hundreds of government employees posted in the valley took out a march in Jammu on Thursday to demand their immediate transfer to their respective home districts.
The killing of the two terrorists is a huge success for the forces, he said. Kumar said LeT terrorists were also behind the killing of Bhupinder Singh, Block Development Council chairman, Khag, in central Kashmir's Budgam district.
Leh in Ladakh region recorded the lowest temperature this winter as mercury plummeted to minus 17.1 degree Celsius on Tuesday night, a meteorological department official said.
Curfew was on Friday extended to several areas of Kashmir to foil a planned march by separatists to Eidgah in old city area as normal life continued to remain paralysed for the 49th consecutive day in the Valley in the wake of violence following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani last month.
Kashmir remained cut off from rest of the country for the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday as the arterial Jammu-Srinagar national highway and the Mughal road remained closed, while air traffic was suspended due to heavy snowfall across the valley.
Curfew was on Sunday lifted from many parts of Kashmir Valley while authorities announced relaxation of curfew in Srinagar city, where curbs had been re-imposed in the wee hours of Sunday, following incidents of stone pelting. Curfew has been lifted from Anantnag, Pulwama, Kulgam, Shopian and Awantipora towns in south Kashmir and Handwara town in north Kashmir, a police spokesman said. While curfew has been lifted from Budgam district in central Kashmir.
'Why should I as a common man not know where my parents are in Kashmir, how they are doing. It is my right,' student Mohammed Aleem Syed, who moved the Supreme Court to be allowed to visit Kashmir, tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
Intense cold wave gripped Kashmir, with Kargil becoming the coldest place this winter.
Basit Mukhtar was injured by a tear gas shell in clashes on September 5.
It's just not a date. It's just not about selecting a candidate. It's not about helping some candidate win. It's about expressing emotion, after ten years, that could reach out in India and beyond it, notes Sheela Bhatt.
According to the officials, fresh batches of pilgrims were not allowed to leave Jammu to embark on their yatra due to closure of the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.
Curfew continued in Srinagar city for the second day on Wednesday while it was extended to two towns in Anantnag district following violent clashes between protestors and security forces in these areas.
