A head constable and a militant were killed in a gunfight in Jammu’s Kathua district amid peak electioneering for the last phase of the Assembly polls on Tuesday.

Twenty-four Assembly seats in Kathua, Jammu City, Samba and Udhampur are going to polls on October 1.

Officials said the operation against militants was launched in Kathua on Saturday after inputs about the presence of militants in the area.

“In the ongoing operation in village Kog (Mandli), Kathua Police HC Bashir Ahmed made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty, heroically taking down a terrorist. While he succumbed to his injuries, the other officers, including Deputy SP Sukhbir and ASI Niaz are stable,” additional director-general of police (Jammu zone), Anand Jain, said in a post on X.

The officer said the operation was launched after the police got information that three to four militants were hiding in the area.
When the search party approached the militants, they came under fire, he said.

The ADGP said adequate security arrangements were in place in all poll-bound areas to ensure violence-free voting.

During a rally in Jammu’s Jasrotia, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge fell sick while speaking about the rising militancy in Jammu and paying tribute to the slain constable.

He later received medical attention and told the crowd that he would not die until Prime Minister Narendra Modi was removed from power.

“I am not going to die so early. I will stay alive till PM Modi is removed from power,” he said.

The Congress leader said he wanted to talk but felt dizzy.

“I have sat down. Please pardon me,” he said.