JAMMU: A 22-year-old Agniveer attached to 11 Rashtriya Rifles was wounded Wednesday when a gunfight broke out between security forces and terrorists hiding in Kalaban forest of Kishtwar district in J&K, official sources said.The joint operation by Army and J&K police began after intelligence inputs pointed to the presence of terrorists in the area. Forces cordoned off the forest and launched a search, which quickly escalated into an exchange of fire.“As the cordon was tightened, the terrorists were located, leading to an exchange of fire. At least three terrorists are hiding there,” a source said, adding that Kapil Kumar of UP’s Fatehpur, recruited under the short-term Agnipath enlistment programme, was hit in the initial burst of gunfire. He was moved to the military hospital in Udhampur and is out of danger. The operation remained underway late Wednesday.Kishtwar has seen a surge in counterterrorism operations, with six gunfights reported over the past seven months as security forces track Pakistan-based terrorists in the hilly, forested terrain. On May 22, Army trooper Gaykar Sandip Pandurang, 32, was killed and two others were wounded in a clash with terrorists in Chatroo. Earlier, on April 11–12, three Jaish-e-Mohammed militants were gunned down in the same area.The district lies on a traditional infiltration route used by terrorists crossing the Pakistan border in Kathua before moving through Udhampur, Doda, and Kishtwar towards Kashmir valley. Its dense forests provide natural cover, making it a persistent hotspot for shootouts.
