A Central Reserve Police Force officer was killed on Monday during a gunfight between security forces and suspected militants in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district, the police said.

The gunfight between a joint team of Central Reserve Police Force and the Jammu and Kashmir Police, and the militants took place during an area patrol near Dudu village, the Udhampur district police said.

“In the encounter, one inspector of CRPF suffered bullet injuries and has attained martyrdom,” the police said in a social media post. “Operation continues.”

The central security force identified the inspector as Kuldeep Singh of the 187 Battalion.

This came amid an increase in militancy-related incidents and infiltration bids in Jammu and Kashmir since late May.

On August 14, an Army captain and a militant were killed in a gunfight in the neighbouring Doda district.

On July 30, the Union home ministry told the Lok Sabha that 14 civilians and 14 security personnel had been killed in militancy-related incidents in the Union territory as of July 21.

Since then, one more civilian and seven more security personnel have lost their lives in similar incidents in the region, taking this year’s toll to 21 security personnel and 15 civilians.

In comparison, 14 civilians and 30 security personnel were killed due to militancy in all of 2023. In 2018, 91 members of security forces and 55 civilians were killed in militancy-related incidents, the ministry said.

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