New Delhi: An encounter broke out between security forces and terrorists in the Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday following a search operation in the region. Security forces had launched a cordon and search operation based on specific input about the presence of terrorists in the Redbugh area of Magam in the central Kashmir district, news agency PTI quoted a police official as saying.


The official noted that the search operation turned into an encounter after terrorists fired upon a search party of the forces that caused retaliation.


Both sides are engaged in firing, but there were no reports of any casualty on either side so far, the official said. The latest operation comes on the day of the 75th Army Day celebrations. 


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Chief of the Army Staff Major General Manoj Pande said on Sunday that there has been a decline in violence in the union territory and noted that several proxy terrorist outfits have resorted to the technique of targetted killings to gain visibility. General Pande said the Army, along with other security forces, is determined to foil all such attempts.


Earlier on December 31, an encounter between security forces and two to three terrorists broke out on the Panjtirthi-Sidhra road in Jammu. There was a grenade burst, which was followed by a gunfight.


The confrontation occurred after police defused a 15-kilogram improvised explosive device (IED) seized in Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur area on Monday, avoiding a major terror plot. According to officials, one coded sheet and one letter pad page from the outlawed terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were also found, and a suspect has been detained.


In November, Jammu and Kashmir police and security forces recovered one AK-47 rifle, one AK-56 rifle, four AK series magazines, live rounds, RDX powder, nails & ball bearings, 9-volt batteries, detonators, IED mechanism circuit, remote control, loose wire, and iron pipes in a joint operation, and arrested two active LeT terrorists and two associates, including a woman, at Bandipora in Jammu and Kashmir.