Udhampur: An Army soldier was killed in a gunfight with suspected Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district on Friday. Security forces have trapped three to four terrorists in the ongoing encounter near the Doda-Udhampur border.

Initially, the Army reported that the encounter had occurred in the general area of Kishtwar. However, in an updated statement, the White Knights Corps clarified that the gunfight site was located in the Dudu Basantgarh heights near the Doda-Udhampur border.

“Contact with terrorists. Update | Contact site of the ongoing operation is Doda-Udhampur border. Operation continues,” the Corps posted on X.

Acting on specific intelligence inputs, the Army, Special Operations Group (SOG), and local police jointly launched a cordon-and-search operation, which led to the encounter. One Army jawan sustained injuries during the firefight and later succumbed to his injuries in hospital.

The Dudu-Basantgarh region has witnessed multiple encounters over the past year. On June 26, a top JeM commander, Haider—active in the area for nearly four years—was eliminated in an operation in the same forest area. Earlier this year, on April 25, another soldier was killed in an encounter with terrorists hiding in the Basantgarh area.

Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s Counter-Intelligence unit conducted extensive searches across Srinagar, Baramulla, Anantnag, Kupwara, Handwara, Pulwama, and Shopian districts in connection with a terror crime case, recovering incriminating materials including digital devices and documents.