An army soldier was killed during an anti-militancy operation in Chatroo of Jammu’s Kishtwar district on Thursday, coming amid a week-long operation to hunt down the militants responsible for the April 22 Pahalgam carnage.

Officials said the encounter broke out on Thursday morning after security forces intercepted a group of militants in the forests of the Chatroo area.

“One of our #Bravehearts sustained grievous injuries in the exchange of fire and has succumbed despite best medical efforts,” Nagrota-based White Knight Corps posted
on X.

The army said a fierce gunfight was underway in the area.

Police sources said a group of three to four militants, including Jaish commander Saifullah, were believed to be hiding in the area.

Police and paramilitary forces are part of the joint cordon-and-search operation.

A source said the militants were likely to have escaped, but the operation had been expanded to continue the hunt.

The operation is taking place in Kishtwar district, which is to the south of the
Pir Panjal range. South Kashmir is located to the north of Pir Panjal.

The operations on two sides of Pir Panjal — in south Kashmir and Kishtwar — are witnessing a synergy between the forces on two sides as militants are believed to be
shuttling between the two areas by scaling the treacherous mountains.

Initially, it was suspected that the militants involved in the Pahalgam killings had come from Kishtwar. Sources said they were now veering to the idea that the militants reached Pahalgam from Tral Dachigam, a mountainous range spread over parts of Pulwama and Srinagar districts.

The sources said the group active in Kishtwar was unlikely to be involved in the Pahalgam attack.

“Some people were claiming that Saifullah was killed in a gunfight in April. But that is not true,” an officer said.

Like Pahalgam, security forces are battling determined militants in Kishtwar.

Three militants were killed in Kishtwar during a three-day operation in April.