A day ahead of the third phase of polling for the J&K assembly, a police head constable was martyred and a Pakistani terrorist killed in an ongoing encounter in the Kog Mandli area of Jammu’s Kathua district, Additional DGP Anand Jain said on Sunday.

Two police officers — deputy SP (Operations) Sukhbir Singh and Assistant Sub-Inspector Niaz Ahmad — were seriously injured in the gunfight with terrorists. The injured officers were airlifted in an Army helicopter to a hospital in Jammu for treatment where their condition is stated to be‘stable’.

Head Constable Bashir Ahmad lost his life while fighting the terrorists with his light machine gun (LMG) in the Billawar area of Kathua where Pakistani terrorists were operating for the past few months.

The fierce encounters in Jammu’s Kathua and Kashmir’s Kulgam districts that broke out on Saturday have cast a shadow on the peace narrative of the BJP leadership .

Polling for 40 assembly seats is scheduled to be held in the third and final phase on Tuesday. The terrorism-hit Billawar area of Kathua will also go to polls on October.

As many as 26 seats are in the Jammu division and 14 in north Kashmir.

Jain said Bashir Ahmad shot the terrorist and sacrificed his life in the heavy fire by terrorists that followed. A group of three to four Pakistani terrorists was trapped in the area, he said.

A massive search operation has been launched in the forest area and drones were also being used to track down the terrorists.

The DGP J&K, RR Swain has condoled the martyrdom of the braveheart HC Bashir Ahmad. He also prayed for speedy recovery of the injured personnel.

The Rising Star Corps of the Indian Army that launched the anti-terrorist operation along with J&K Police said; “Based on specific intelligence input regarding presence of terrorists, a Joint Operation was launched by Indian Army and J&K Police on 28 September in general area Dhanuparole, Machhedi, Kathua. Contact has been established and Operations are in progress”.

Two terrorists were killed in the Arigam area of south Kashmir’s Kulgam on Saturday when five security forces personnel, including Additional Superintendent of Police Mumtaz Ali Bhatti and sepoys Mohan Sharma, Sohan Kumar, Yoginder and Mohammad Isran of the Rashtriya Rifles (RR) of the Indian Army were injured.

Recently infiltrated Pakistani terrorists, trained in jungle warfare, are believed to be active in the Machhedi area of the mountainous Billawar.

Earlier on 8 July, they ambushed an Army vehicle and killed five soldiers, including a junior commissioned officer. Six other soldiers were injured in the attack.

A few days later on 16 July, a Captain and three other soldiers were killed in an ambush by terrorists in the Dessa forest area of the neighbouring Doda district.