Srinagar:

A gunfight started overnight between the security forces and terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district, officials said.

Officials added that an encounter has started during the night intervening September 13-14 in Chak Tappar Kreeri area of Baramulla district.

“Two to three terrorists are believed to be hiding in the area. Operation is going on to neutralise the terrorists,” officials said.

Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora districts of the Valley go to vote in the third and final phase of polling in the Union Territory (UT) on October 1.

Meanwhile, anti-terrorist operation is still underway in Chatroo village of Kishtwar district in Jammu division where two army soldiers were martyred and two others injured in an encounter with a group of terrorists on Friday.

Eight Assembly constituencies spread across Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts in the Chenab valley region along with 16 seats in the south Kashmir districts of Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam are going to polls in the first phase on September 18.

Jammu, Kathua and Samba districts are going to vote in second and third phase of elections in the UT on September 25 and October 1 respectively.

The hilly districts of Poonch, Rajouri, Doda, Kathua, Reasi and Udhampur in the Jammu division have witnessed terrorist ambush attacks against the Army, security forces and civilians during the last more than two months.

After reports that a group of foreign terrorists, believed to be 40 to 50 in number, are responsible for these attacks, the Army deployed more than 4,000 trained soldiers drawn from the elite Para Commandos and those trained in mountain warfare inside the densely forested areas of those districts.

Terrorists used element of surprise to carry out ambush attacks and then disappear in the forests of these hilly areas.

The deployment of Army and the CRPF together with the strengthening of the village defence committees managed by local residents, has deprived the terrorists of using the element of surprise to carry out such attacks.

After the security forces started aggressively going after the terrorists both in the Jammu division and the Kashmir Valley, the terrorists are now increasingly being engaged in exchange of firing with the security forces.

“They either get killed during such encounters or remain on the run. This prevents them from surprising the security forces by carrying out sly attacks,” a senior police officer said.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

A 4.2 magnitude earthquake hit Jammu and Kashmir on Friday. Data released by the National Center for Seismology (NCS) said that an earthquake measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale occurred at Kashmir’s Baramulla at 12.26 pm.

“The epicentre of the earthquake was in the Baramulla area of the Valley. It occurred at a depth of 5 km inside the earth’s crust. The coordinates of the earthquake are altitude 34.32 degrees north and longitude 74.41 degrees east,” the data said.

Baramulla: People fled to safety after a strong earthquake struck around 12: 25 pm today. Marketgoers and shopkeepers quickly sought refuge due to the high intensity of the quake. No casualties or property damage have been reported so far pic.twitter.com/u96Ivbc1YQ

— IANS (@ians_india) July 12, 2024

A video showed a busy market come to an halt after the tremors shook the area. In the 18-second video, shoppers can be seen gathered in the middle of the road when the earthquake hit. Cars and motorcycles stopped on the road, waiting for the quake to pass.

No casualty or damage to property has been reported so far.

Srinagar:

With the jailed Engineer Rashid entering the Lok Sabha poll fray in Kashmir, it was time for former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad to return the favour for a Rajya Sabha election vote in 2015.

Mr Azad’s outfit in Jammu and Kashmir – the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) – on Thursday announced its support for Rashid, who is contesting as an Independent candidate from the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat in North Kashmir.

Arrested in 2019 in a terror funding case, Abdul Rashid Sheikh – popularly known as Engineer Rashid – heads the regional Awami Ittehad Party and had voted for Mr Azad during the 2015 Rajya Sabha elections. He was an MLA from the Lagate assembly seat in the erstwhile state.

Mr Rashid filed his nomination from Tihar Jail to contest from Baramulla, which goes to the polls on May 20.

“Engineer Rashid is innocent and people want him out of jail. He has always fought for the people’s cause. So, this is injustice,” said Taj Mohiuddin, the party’s treasurer and its North Kashmir in-charge, while announcing the decision.

Mr Mohiuddin said the decision was taken after the jailed leader’s son, Abrar Rashid, made an appeal to Mr Azad, seeking support for his father’s candidature.

“Engineer Rashid has consistently fought for the people. Therefore, we feel it’s important to stand by someone who has made sacrifices,” he added.

Mr Rashid, who contested the 2014 assembly elections as an Independent candidate from Langate in North Kashmir, is in jail in a terror-funding case.

The case, the chargesheet for which has since been filed, names Hafiz Saeed, chief of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa – a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror outfit – as an accused.

The former MLA was also named by Syed Naveed Mushtaq Ahmad alias Naveed alias Babu, a commander of the banned Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.

Naveed was arrested along with Davinder Singh, who was dismissed as deputy superintendent of the Jammu and Kashmir Police.

Naveed claimed during interrogation that he had been in constant touch with the former legislator for establishing a firm base for the terror group in North Kashmir and was looking for possible hideouts in that area, officials alleged.

Rashid was first the mainstream politician to be arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with a case related to the funding of terror activities in Kashmir.

His name had reportedly cropped up during the interrogation of businessman Zahoor Watali, arrested by the NIA for allegedly supplying money to terror groups and separatists in the Valley.

The NIA registered the case against separatist and secessionist leaders, including unknown members of the Hurriyat Conference, who were acting in connivance with active militants of proscribed terrorist organisations Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and other outfits and gangs in 2016.

The case was registered for raising, receiving and collecting funds through various illegal means, including hawala, for funding separatist and terror activities in the erstwhile state and causing disruption in the Valley by pelting security forces with stones, burning schools, damaging public property and waging war against India, the probe agency said in the FIR.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Srinagar:

Two women and a juvenile are among six terrorist operatives arrested during a fresh crackdown on terrorists and their support network in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district, police said.

The operation was jointly carried out by the Army and Jammu and Kashmir police.

Police said a cache of arms and ammunition including three pistols and five hand grenades have been recovered from the arrested people.

“Six people have been arrested. Among them is Yasir Ahmad Shah, an active terrorist. Five others are his associates including a juvenile,” said Amok Nagpure, Senior Superintendent of Police Baramulla.

He said the arrests have prevented a possible terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir and also busted a cross-border arms smuggling module.

According to SSP Baramulla, after the arrest of Yasir Ahmad Shah, they were able to arrest his associates.

He said that women have been lured into such activities because no one normally suspects them.

Mr Nagpure said that police will not be lenient with women and juveniles involved in such activities.

After a recent week-long encounter in Anantnag in which four security personnel, including three officers, were killed, security forces have intensified crackdown on suspected terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir.

On Monday, security forces held a Core Group meeting to review the security situation in the Anantnag encounter.

Top officials of the police, Army, BSF, CRPF, ITBP and intelligence agencies attended the meeting to devise a strategy to deal with terrorism and another Anantnag encounter-like situation.