Jammu, July 3 : A gunfight between the security forces and the terrorists continued for the second day on Thursday in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district.

Security forces had started a CASO (Cordon and Search Operation) in the Chatroo area of Kishtwar district on Wednesday evening after intelligence reports about the presence of terrorists in the area.

As the security forces closed in on the hiding terrorists, they fired, triggering an encounter.

Latest reports from the area said that the encounter continued in the area with intermittent firing from the two sides.

Army's Nagrota headquartered WhiteKnight corps said on X on Wednesday, 'Based on specific #intelligence a joint search operation was underway in Kanzal Mandu, #Kishtwar. Contact has been established with the #terrorists and #operations are in progress.'

On June 26, one terrorist was killed in a gunfight between the security forces and the terrorists in the Basantgarh area of Udhampur district.

Wednesday's gunfight between the terrorists and the security forces started on a day when the first batch of this year's annual Amarnath Yatra reached the two base camps of Pahalgam and Baltal.

On April 22, Pakistan backed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists killed 26 civilians in Baisaran meadow of Pahalgam after segregating them on the basis of faith. The entire country was outraged by the dastardly terror attack.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a free hand to the armed forces to avenge the terror attack.

The Indian Armed Forces targeted nine terror infrastructures deep inside Pakistan and also in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

The target-specific strikes were carried out by the armed forces in Muridke near Lahore, in Bahawalpur and Kotli, and Muzaffarabad in PoK.

After escalation, 11 defence bases of Pakistan were also attacked by the Indian Armed Forces.

In retaliation, Pakistan shelled heavy mortars on civilian facilities in Poonch, Rajouri, Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara districts of Jammu and Kashmir.

Eighteen civilians were killed in Pakistan's shelling on civilian facilities in the union territory, 13 of them in Poonch district.

Scores of homes and shops, in addition to a temple, a Gurudwara and a church, were also destroyed in Pakistan's shelling on civilian facilities.

/IANS