A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) inspector was killed when the terrorists opened fire on a patrol party in Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur district on Monday, officials said.
The CRPF along with the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the local police was fired upon by the terrorists around 3:30 pm in the remote Chill area under Dudu Police Station jurisdiction of Basantgarh, the officials said.
CRPF Inspector Kuldip, belonging to the G company of the 187th battalion, was hit by a bullet and later succumbed to his injuries while being taken to the hospital, they said.
The Udhampur Police posted information about this incident on its official X handle.
"During area domination patrol at Chill, Dudu, exchange of fire took place between terrorists and joint parties of JKP and CRPF. In the encounter, one Inspector of CRPF suffered bullet injuries & has attained martyrdom.Operation continues," it said.
The terrorists fled the scene in the face of strong retaliation by the joint patrolling party, the officials said, adding reinforcements have been rushed to the scene and a search operation has been launched to track down and neutralise the militants.
The security apparatus in Jammu and Kashmir is preparing for a 'high alert' mode in view of the forthcoming three-phase assembly polls that have been announced by the Election Commission last week.
The Election Commission earlier on Friday announced the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir in three phases on September 18, 25 and October 1, and the votes will be counted on October 4.
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