Srinagar, March 17 : An encounter broke out between security forces and hiding terrorists in North Kashmir's Kupwara district on Monday.

Officials said that following intelligence inputs about the presence of terrorists in the Krumbhoora (Zachaldara) village in Rajwar area of the district, security forces started a CASO (Cordon and Search Operation).

'As the security forces closed on the hiding terrorists, they fired at the surrounding security forces triggering an encounter which is presently going on. Two to three terrorists are reportedly holed up inside the cordoned off area. All the exit points of the terrorists are being plugged,' the officials said.

A joint team of the Indian Army, Jammu and Kashmir Police, and the Special Operations Group (SOG) has launched a coordinated operation to eliminate the threat.

Authorities have sealed off the area, and additional reinforcements have been deployed to ensure a successful operation. Civilians in the area have been advised to stay indoors and avoid movement near the encounter site for their safety.

The situation remains active and under close monitoring, said the officials.

Further updates will follow as the operation progresses. Security agencies are likely to issue press statements as more details emerge.

Terrorists under the orders of their handlers sitting across the border in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) have stepped up their activities.

Intelligence agencies believe that the peaceful, people-participative Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly elections in 2024 have frustrated terror handlers in Pakistan.

Recently, terrorists killed three innocent civilians in the Kathua district, including a 14-year-old boy.

The bodies of two civilians out of three who went missing from the Qazigund area of the Kulgam district on February 14 have been recovered.

These civilians belonging to the Rajouri district of the Jammu division were working as labourers to earn their livelihood in the Valley.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has chaired three security review meetings on J&K since the beginning of 2025.

He has given clear orders to the security forces to ensure zero infiltration and zero tolerance for terrorists and their sympathisers in the union territory.

Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha has also chaired two back-to-back security review meetings, one in Srinagar and the other in Jammu. The L-G has directed police and the security forces to dismantle the entire ecosystem of terror sustained by terrorists, their overground workers (OGWs) and sympathisers.

The L-G has said that funds generated from drug smuggling, drug trafficking and hawala rackets are ultimately used to sustain terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, and the war against terror cannot be fought in isolation unless its breathing channels dry up.

/IANS