One Indian Army soldier was killed and three others were injured after suspected militants opened fire while security forces were conducting a search operation in the forests of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar and Srinagar districts on Sunday, reported The Hindu.

In a social media post, the White Knight Corps of the Army said a joint operation of security forces was launched in the Bhart Ridge forest area of Kishtwar “based on specific intelligence input regarding presence of terrorists”.

“This is the same group which had abducted and killed 02 innocent villagers (village defence guards) in Kishtwar region two days back,” it said.

In the subsequent firing, one soldier, identified as Naib Subedar Rakesh Kumar of the Army’s 2 Para (SF), died. “We stand with the bereaved family in this hour of grief,” said the Army.

On Thursday, the Kashmir Tigers, believed to be an offshoot of the Jaish-e-Muhammad, kidnapped and killed two civilians identified as Nazir Ahmad and Kuldeep Kumar.

Following this, security forces had launched a search operation in Kishtwar.

The killings sparked protests by locals who demanded strict action to end militancy in the region.

In a separate search operation on Sunday, security forces exchanged fire with suspected militants during a search operation in the Zabarwan forest near Srinagar.

“A joint police and security forces operation was launched in Zabarwan forest area of Srinagar based on specific intelligence about the presence of terrorists,” The Hindu quoted an unidentified police official as saying. “An exchange of fire ensued during the operation.”

The Kashmir Valley has seen an uptick in gunfights between militants and security forces in the past month, reported The Indian Express. Five such incidents have been reported in the last three days.

On Saturday, a suspected militant was killed in the Rampur-Rajpur forests of Sopore in North Kashmir. Two suspected militants were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Baramulla district on Friday.

In two other separate incidents on the same day, two more suspected militants were killed in Bandipora and Kupwara.