Jammu & Kashmir
Operation Keller
- 14 May 2025
- 2 min read
Why in News?
The Army gunned down three Kashmiri terrorists affiliated with the Pakistan-backed banned group Lashkar-e-Taiba during a counterterrorism operation in Keller, Shopian district of Kashmir.
Key Points
- About the Counterterror Operation:
- Based on intelligence inputs from the Rashtriya Rifles, the Army launched “Operation Keller” in the dense forested Shoekal Keller area of Shopian.
- Army and paramilitary forces quickly sealed off the area, triggering a fierce gunfight that ended with all three terrorists killed.
- The Army stated that the operation is still ongoing.
- This was the second terrorist encounter in Kashmir in 2025.
- Earlier, on 16 March, J&K Police killed a Pakistani terrorist in the Handwara forests, about 100 km north of Srinagar.
- Wider Military Context:
- Security forces remain on high alert following Operation Sindoor launched by India on 7 May 2025.
- Under the operation, India carried out airstrikes on nine terrorist camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Pakistan.
- These strikes came roughly two weeks after the Pahalgam massacre, escalating Indo-Pak tensions.
The Rashtriya Rifles
- It is a counter-insurgency force in India, formed in 1990, to deal with internal security in the Jammu and Kashmir region.
- They maintain public order by drawing powers from the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990 (AFSPA).
- The force operates under the Ministry of Defence. The Indian Army describes RR as their "specialist elite force to combat insurgency".
- The RR is headquartered at Northern Command in Udhampur and commanded by an Additional Director General of Rashtriya Rifles (ADG RR).
