Two suspected members of the Pakistan-based proscribed group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) were killed during a security operation in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district, officials said on Thursday. An alleged over-ground worker was detained.
The operation was carried out jointly by the Army Police and the in the mountainous Brattal Sohan and Khubban forest areas of Majalta, close to the Kathua district border.
The operation took place despite heavy rainfall in the region.
The Army separately confirmed that two terrorists were killed during the operation.
The Jammu-based White Knight Corps said in a post on X, “In a joint intelligence-based operation during the intervening night of September 16-17, confirmed inputs indicated the presence of terrorists in the general area of Brattal, Udhampur.”
“Despite hostile weather, difficult terrain and poor visibility, troops of White Knight Corps, Police and CRPF launched a targeted counter-terrorism operation, resulting in the neutralisation of two terrorists,” it added.
“The operation is still in progress, with search and surveillance continuing in the area. Security forces remain deployed to track and neutralise any remaining threat,” it concluded.
Officials said security forces had been tracking a group of terrorists after their presence was detected in the forested region last week.
Acting on fresh intelligence, the forces established a cordon around a specific area at about 9 pm on Wednesday, triggering the first exchange of fire.
According to officials, sporadic gunshots and explosions were heard soon after the operation started. The area then remained mostly calm overnight, before firing resumed on Thursday morning when the terrorists reportedly launched heavy gunfire in an attempt to escape the security cordon.
Reinforcements were rushed to the area, and the search operation was continuing when the last reports were received, they said.
The officials said both the slain terrorists are believed to be Pakistani nationals, adding that a US-made M4 carbine and an AK assault rifle, along with a large quantity of ammunition, were recovered from the scene of the gunfight.
A local youth, believed to be an over-ground worker (OGW), has been detained for questioning, they said.
It was the second major encounter in Udhampur district this year. In February, two Pakistani terrorists, including a self-styled commander – Rubani alias Abu Mavia, who was active in the area for the past several years – were killed in the Ramnagar forests.
Over the past several years, the difficult mountain terrain of the Kathua-Udhampur-Doda belt was used by JeM terrorists to establish hideouts and evade security forces after infiltrating from across the border.
However, security forces have dismantled these networks to deny terrorists safe passage and shelter in the upper reaches, the officials said.
They said the relentless operations have resulted in the elimination of a large number of active terrorists operating in the region, many of them identified as Pakistani nationals.
Security agencies are also maintaining heightened surveillance and launching searches in remote forest areas based on intelligence inputs and assessments of possible terrorist movement.
recorded the deaths of nine people in separate encounters in 2025, including four suspected terrorists and five security personnel. In neighbouring Kishtwar, five people — four terrorists and one security personnel, have been killed so far this year, compared with four fatalities in 2025, comprising three terrorists and one security personnel.
Doda reported five deaths, with three security personnel and two civilians among those killed in 2024.
Udhampur witnessed four fatalities in 2024, comprising two terrorists, one security personnel and one civilian. The toll remained at four in 2025, when one terrorist and three security personnel were killed.
Kathua reported the highest number of deaths among the four districts in 2024, with nine fatalities, including two terrorists and seven security personnel.
The district recorded seven deaths in 2025, comprising three terrorists and four security personnel. So far in 2026, one terrorist has been killed in Kathua.
