Two soldiers injured in ongoing encounter in Kashmir’s Bandipora

Srinagar: Two Army personnel were injured in an ongoing encounter with terrorists in north Kashmir's Bandipora district on Wednesday.

Reports said the encounter started when a joint team of the army and the J&K police launched a cordon-and-search operation in the Renji forest area of Chintibandi village in Bandipora, after receiving input of a terrorist hideout.

While the forces were conducting a house-to-house search in the area, the terrorists who were in hiding fired upon them, reports said. In the initial exchange of fire, two soldiers sustained injuries.

Sources said helicopters have also been pressed into service by the army to aid the security operations which are currently under way.

Since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, Kashmir has witnessed a notable decline in violence. While recruitment of locals into the militancy is at its all-time low in the last two years, security agencies have also reported a significant decrease in successful infiltrations in the same period.

According to official figures, the number of active militants in Kashmir has declined to double digits which has resulted in a lesser number of encounters between the security forces and the terrorists.