Srinagar: A suspected militant was gunned down by security forces in Kishtwar district on Friday (April 11) where a gun battle broke out a day after Union home minister Amit Shah concluded his J&K visit earlier this week. In one of the longest counter-insurgency operations in Udhampur district, a joint team of J&K Police, Indian army and central paramilitary troopers are also on the lookout for a group of militants who were spotted and exchanged gunfire with forces on Wednesday (April 9). Both the incidents took place a day after the culmination of Shah’s three-day visit during which he reviewed the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the pace of developmental works taken up by the Bhartiya Janta Party-led (BJP-led) Union government post Article 370 abrogation. Officials said on Friday that a “joint search and destroy” operation was launched by the army and J&K Police on April 9 in Chatroo forests of Kishtwar district in Chenab valley of Jammu division.Chatroo falls on the Sinthan Top, a high mountain pass that connects Anantnag district in south Kashmir with Kishtwar district in the Chenab valley of Jammu division. After remaining closed during the winter months, officials said that the pass was opened to vehicular traffic on Wednesday when the first exchange of gunfire took place between security forces and militants in Chatroo.“One terrorist has thus far been neutralised. Despite hostile terrain & adverse weather, relentless operations by our brave soldiers continues,” the army’s Nagrota-based White Knight Corps spokesperson said on Friday in a post on X. Op ChhatruBased on specific #intelligence, a joint search and destroy #operation along with @JmuKmrPolice was launched on 09 Apr in #Chhatru forest #Kishtwar.Contact was established late evening on the same day. The #terrorists were effectively engaged and firefight ensued.… pic.twitter.com/QqTwQzoQE3— White Knight Corps (@Whiteknight_IA) April 11, 2025The identity of the slain or their affiliation has not been confirmed by officials so far. The encounter took place two days after a group of suspected militants, who are on the prowl in Udhampur, allegedly took a family hostage in Basantgarh area and later decamped with food, a smartphone and other items. According to reports, three heavily armed men between 20 and 30 years of age who are conversant with Dogri and Urdu languages barged into the house of Rashpaul Singh, 35, a school teacher, in Basantgarh at around 8 pm on Wednesday. The trio stayed in the house for more than three hours during which they also made phone calls from Singh’s number. Security forces believe that the trio is part of the same group of militants who exchanged gunfire with security forces on Wednesday in Jopher village, which is located some 15 km from Basantgarh. Two members of the same group of militants are also suspected to have barged into a residential house in Chore Panjwa area of Majalta block in Udhampur on April 3 where they also held a family hostage and later decamped with a mobile phone, food and some other items. According to reports, the group of militants are fresh infiltrators who were first seen on March 23 in Saniyal forest of Hiranagar sector after crossing the international border along the Kathua district where four policemen on a hot pursuit of militants were killed during an encounter on March 28.In recent months, security agencies have reported multiple sightings of militants in Kathua and Udhampur districts of Jammu division which has emerged as the new epicentre of insurgency-related violence following the reading down of Article 370 in 2019 by the Narendra Modi government.Security forces claimed to have gunned down two unidentified militants in Kathua encounter in which four security personnel including a sub-divisional police officer of J&K police and a commando of the army’s elite para unit were also injured.Before winding up his three-day visit to J&K, Shah had said that the “entire terror ecosystem nurtured by elements inimical to our country in J&K has been crippled by the Modi government”. Shah had visited an outpost of the Border Security Forces in Kathua district during his J&K visit and also handed appointment letters to the kin of the slain police personnel.