JCO among 2 soldiers killed in gunfight with terrorists in J&K's Kishtwar
Jammu (PTI): Two Army personnel, including a junior commissioned officer (JCO), were killed and an equal number injured in an encounter with terrorists in the higher reaches of Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district on Friday, officials said.
The gunfight broke out when a joint security party of the Army and police, acting on a tip-off, launched a cordon-and-search operation in the Naidgham area in the Chhatroo belt connecting Kishtwar with south Kashmir's Anantnag district, they added.
The officials said there was an exchange of fire between the search team of the security forces and the terrorists hiding in the Pingnal Dugadda forest area in the upper reaches of Naidgham village located within the Chhatroo police station limits.
Four Army personnel were injured in the gunbattle and two of them -- Naib Subedar Vipan Kumar, a JCO, and Sepoy Arvind Singh -- later succumbed to their injuries, the officials said, adding that one of the soldiers died of splinter injuries caused by a grenade explosion and another of a bullet injury in the head.
The Army also confirmed the killing of the two soldiers.
"GOC (General Officer Commanding) White Knight Corps and all ranks salute the supreme sacrifice of the bravehearts; offer deepest condolences to the families," the Army said.
Earlier, the Army had said the search party exchanged a heavy volume of fire with the terrorists around 3:30 pm.
"In the ensuing firefight four army personnel have been injured. The operation is in progress," the Jammu-based White Knight Corps said in a post on X.
The officials said the injured soldiers were airlifted to an Army hospital after preliminary treatment at a local hospital.
The encounter comes two days after the Army, in a successful operation, neutralised two Pakistani terrorists affiliated with the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit in the higher reaches of Basantgarh in Udhampur district.
The Jammu and Kashmir unit of the Congress expressed grief over the killing of the two soldiers and prayed for a speedy recovery of the injured.
"The Congress strongly condemns the terrorist attack.... The BJP government has utterly failed to deal with terrorism, which has revived in the Jammu region after two decades," Pradesh Congress Committee vice-president Ravinder Sharma said in a statement.
He said the government must take urgent measures to check terror attacks, instead of making "hollow claims" of normalcy.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
