JAMMU: Operation Trashi-I, initiated to hunt and kill fleeing ultras in the hilly, forested region of Chatroo, in J&K’s Kishtwar district, entered its third day Tuesday even as security forces fortified the cordon and intensified the searches with the backing of aerial surveillance and sniffer dogs, officials said.The troops busted a well-concealed terrorist hideout in the district’s upper reaches and detained three-four locals from Sonnar village, near Mandral-Singhpora area, for questioning. “The recovery included vegetables, spices, 20kg of fine-quality rice, grains, 50 packets of Maggi, cooking gas, and dry wood,” said an official. Security personnel were trying to identify the overground workers who may have assisted the terrorists in transporting large quantities of assorted rations, utensils, and other consumable and logistic supplies, which were enough to provide sustenance during the winter months.Earlier on Tuesday, a wreath-laying ceremony was organised in Jammu to pay tributes to Army Special Forces Commando, Havildar Gajendra Singh, who died Monday after suffering grenade splinter and bullet wounds during an overnight gun battle with terrorists during the ongoing operation. He was among eight soldiers wounded late Sunday when terrorists ambushed a joint Army–police search team in dense forests near Sonnar, close to the LoC. This was the first security force death in a counter-terrorism operation in the Union Territory in 2026.The ceremony at Satwari was led by Brig Yudhvir Singh Sekhon, Officiating Chief of Staff, White Knight Corps. DIG (Jammu-Kathua-Samba Range) Shiv Kumar Sharma, Jammu Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Minhas, and several top police, CRPF and BSF officers paid tributes. Singh’s mortal remains were later dispatched to his native place in Uttarakhand for the last rites, an official said.Senior officers, including IGP (Jammu Zone) Bhim Sen Tuti and IG-CRPF (Jammu), were currently camping in the area along with several senior Army officers to supervise the operation.This operation is the third this year in Jammu division, following clashes earlier this month in Kahog and Najote forests of Billawar in Kathua, south of Pir Panjal range. Security across Jammu has been stepped up ahead of Republic Day.Kishtwar, a remote district east of the Chenab and south of Kashmir Valley, saw intensified counter-terrorism efforts in 2025 as forces tracked Pakistan-based terrorists through steep terrain and thick forests. At least six gun battles were reported there over seven months. On May 22, an Army trooper was killed and two others wounded in Chatroo. Weeks earlier, three Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists were shot dead in the same area.Security officials said Kishtwar sits astride a traditional infiltration corridor, with terrorists crossing from Pakistan via Kathua and moving through Udhampur and Doda before heading towards Kashmir valley, using forest cover to evade detection.
