Srinagar: Three suspected militants have been killed in the restive Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir, the army said on February 22.A Jammu-based defence spokesperson said that a joint team of security forces established contact with a group of gunmen in Passerkut area, some 30 kilometres from the district headquarter of Kishtwar.The troops of the Jammu-based White Knight Corps’ counterinsurgency Delta force and J&K Police’s Special Operations Group along with Central Reserve Paramilitary Forces were involved in the operation.The joint team engaged the suspects in “challenging terrain” at around 11 am on Sunday, the spokesperson said in a post on X.“Displaying tactical precision, seamless synergy and resolute aggression, troops dominated the encounter site wherein two terrorists have been successfully neutralised. War-like stores including 02 x AK-47 rifles have also been recovered,” it said.“The hunt continues — those who seek to disturb peace will find no sanctuary. We Serve, We Protect!,” the post added.A third suspected militant was gunned down later in the encounter, the army said.A one minute 55 second video of the encounter, verified by The Wire, shows a powerful explosion rattling a livestock shed, known locally in Kishtwar as gowari, which is visible on the largely barren face of a small hillock with patches of greenery around it.The explosion blows some tin sheets off the roof. A plume of smoke and dust hovers over the shed as a relentless crackle of gunfire fills the air.In the background, a security personnel watching the action is heard saying in the video that the inside of the shed where the suspects had reportedly taken refuge has also caught fire.A photo from the encounter site, verified by The Wire, shows two among the three suspects badly charred by the blaze. Their identity and affiliations have not been revealed so far.Some reports said that a top Jaish-e-Mohammad commander was among the three gunned down but there was no official confirmation of this.The encounter broke out amid an ongoing anti-insurgency operation codenamed ‘Trashi-I’ which was launched by the security forces in the third week of January following intelligence reports about the presence of militants in the higher reaches of Kishtwar.In the years after the reading down of Article 370, militancy has reared its head in Jammu region with Kishtwar, a hilly district in the Chenab valley, emerging as one of the epicentres of violence.The first major militancy-related incident in Kishtwar took place on September 13, 2024, when two army soldiers laid down their lives during an encounter with a group of heavily armed militants in Naidgam.Three militants were killed in the operation which also prompted massive searches in the area.The encounter in Naidgam was followed barely two months later by another shocking attack when militants gunned down two Village Defence Guards in the district’s Kuntwara area.Since then, security forces and militants have been involved in a cat-and-mouse battle in the challenging terrain.The encounter in Passerkut broke out days after a suspected Jaish-e-Mohammad militant was gunned down in Dachhar area of Kishtwar on February 4.Two more suspected militants were gunned down by security forces in Udhampur district of Jammu on the same day.A special para commando of the army identified as Havildar Gajendra Singh who was injured during an encounter with a group of suspected Jaish-e-Mohammad militants forces in Kishtwar’s Singhpora, succumbed on January 19.According to reports, at least 35 militants divided in several groups which are mostly led by foreigners have taken refuge in the higher reaches of Jammu, a political stronghold of the ruling BJP.Jammu was largely militancy-free but it has emerged as a new battleground for security forces after J&K was bifurcated and downgraded into two Union territories in 2019.Since 2021, heavily-armed and well-trained militants have inflicted lethal blows on security forces and civilians alike in parts of Jammu. Some of these militants have been killed in encounters with security forces.