A fierce encounter between security forces and terrorists unfolded  in the Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir. Confirming the gunbattle, the Indian Army took to social media platform X in a post and said that troops observed suspicious movement in the Panar area of Bandipora. It noted further that when challenged by security personnel, terrorists responded with heavy gunfire before fleeing into nearby forested areas. “A search operation is underway.”

Reacting to the encounter, former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah called it an attempt to destabilise the newly elected government in the union territory.

Although more information is awaited, search and cordon operations have increased in the Bandipora-Panar area, where firing had taken place. Similar search operations are also being carried out in Srinagar’s Khanyar area.

This incident is not the first recent encounter of its kind. Three terrorists were eliminated in Akhnoor on October 29 when they attacked an Army convoy. It was only four days before, on October 20, when gunmen attacked workers at a tunnel construction site on the Srinagar-Leh highway in Ganderbal and killed a doctor and six construction workers. 

As operations proceed in the area, the situation remains volatile and tense.