J&K: Three police officers, two suspected militants killed in gunfight in Kathua

Three police officers and two suspected militants were killed in a gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district on Thursday, reported The Indian Express.

A sub-divisional police officer named Dheeraj Singh Katoch and a special operations group soldier identified as Bharat Chalotra were injured in the exchange of fire, The Hindu reported, quoting unidentified officials. The injured persons were stable, the officials added.

The gunfight between the suspected militants and security forces began earlier in the day during a combing operation in the Juthana Safan pocket of Kathua’s Rajbagh area, according to The Hindu.

Over the past five days, security forces and police personnel, led by Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat, have been conducting search operations in the Hiranagar sector, The Indian Express reported.

On Tuesday, two grenades and some empty shells of M4 ammunition were recovered from the forests. A day earlier, several magazines of M4 carbine, a bulletproof jacket and other material left behind by the suspected militants were recovered.

“Since terrorists were spotted on Sunday, security forces have been chasing them and again engaged them on Monday morning,” Kathua MLA Bharat Bhushan told The Hindu.

Bhushan also said that the Bharatiya Janata Party will raise the issue of growing militant activities in the district in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.
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