2 soldiers killed, 2 civilians injured in Kokernag encounter

Srinagar, Aug 10Two soldiers of the Army were killed and two civilians injured in an ongoing fierce encounter with terrorists in the Ahlan Gadole forest area of Kokernag in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Saturday.

: The incident marks the second significant encounter in the Kokernag subdivision in the past year.

“Two Army personnel have been killed in action and two civilians have received injuries,” a senior Police officer said.

He said that the injured had been evacuated.

“OP GAGARMANDU, #Anantnag Based on specific intelligence input, a Joint Operation was launched by #IndianArmy, @JmuKmrPolice & @crpf_srinagar today in general area Kokernag, Anantnag. Contact was established and a gunfight ensued. Two personnel have been injured and evacuated from the area. Operations are in progress. #Kashmir @adgpi @NorthernComd_IA,” Chinar Corps- Indian Army posted on microblogging site, X. “OP GAGARMANDU, #Anantnag Two civilians have also been reported injured due to indiscriminate, desperate and reckless firing by terrorists in the ongoing operation; they have been provided immediate medical aid and evacuated further. Operations are in progress. Terror antecedents of civilians being established #Kashmir @adgpi @NorthernComd_IA.”

Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Zone, V K Birdi said that operation was underway.

“There are dense forests, besides communication problems in the area,” he told Greater Kashmir. “The joint parties are carrying out intense searches in the areas.”

The gunfight erupted in the afternoon as security forces were conducting an anti-terror operation in the dense forests of Ahlan Gadole, a remote area in the Kokernag area.

According to the Police, the operation was launched following credible intelligence inputs about the presence of terrorists in the area.

As the security forces, including the Army and the J&K Police, advanced into the forested terrain, the terrorists opened fire, leading to a fierce exchange of gunfire.

During the exchange, two soldiers were critically injured.

The injured soldiers were immediately shifted to a medical facility where they succumbed to their grievous injuries.

Additional forces have rushed to the area to reinforce the ongoing operation.

Security officials said that the terrorists are entrenched in the Ahlan Gadole forests, making the operation particularly challenging.

The dense foliage and difficult terrain are likely providing the terrorists with natural cover, complicating the efforts of the security forces.

In September 2023, the Kokernag subdivision witnessed a deadly encounter in which a Commanding Officer, a Major, and a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) were killed during a gunfight with terrorists in the Kokernag forest.

That incident led to a massive security operation and a subsequent crackdown on terrorist hideouts in the area.

Meanwhile, a Defence spokesman said that it had been confirmed through human and electronic means on August 5 that terrorists responsible for atrocities and incidents in the Doda region on July 24 had sneaked across the Kishtwar range into the Kapran Garol area in south Kashmir.

He said that the Rashtriya Rifles and J&K Police had ever since relentlessly tracked these terrorists and precise operations were launched on Friday night and Saturday in the area east of Kapran, in the mountains, where these terrorists were reportedly holed up.

The Defence spokesman said that suspicious movement was observed at approximately 2 pm on Saturday, and on challenging, was immediately responded to by indiscriminate, desperate, and reckless firing from terrorists in which two Army personnel and two civilians, in the vicinity were injured. He said that the terror antecedents of the injured civilians were being ascertained. The Defence spokesman said that the area was above 10000 feet, had thick undergrowth, large boulders, Nallahs, and re-entrants that pose a serious challenge to operations. He said that security forces were moving deliberately and were in the process of hunting down the terrorists.

The Defence spokesman said that the operations would progress through the night.