New Delhi: An army officer is among four soldiers and a policeman who were killed in action in the Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir where security agencies are searching for militants who have carried out a wave of deadly attacks in the recent past.
The attack came less than a week after five Army soldiers lost their lives when a group of heavily armed militants ambushed their vehicles in the Kathua district of Jammu division which has become a new epicentre of violence against civilians and security forces in J&K.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh, J&K’s lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha, Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi and others paid tributes to the security personnel who were killed in the operation.
The Leader of Opposition and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government for the “repeated security lapses” in Jammu and Kashmir while seeking “strict action” against the culprits.
Six terror attacks have been reported in Jammu region in which 12 security personnel and 10 civilians have lost their lives since June 9, ringing alarm bells in the security establishment. A massive search operation has been launched in the region’s hilly areas to hunt down the attackers.
During one such search operation on Monday, July 15, a joint team of 10 Rashtriya Rifles and J&K Police’s Special Operations Group was following specific inputs about the presence of a group of militants in Dhari Gote Urarbagi in the Desa area of Doda when it came under attack.
A senior police officer said that the suspects were hiding in the densely forested area and attacked the joint team of security forces at around 9 pm, “During the initial exchange of gunfire, four soldiers, including an army captain, and a policeman were hit,” the officer, who didn’t want to be named, said.
He said that the injured were evacuated to a hospital where all of them succumbed. The slain have been identified as Captain Brijesh Thapa, Naik D Rajesh, Sepoy Bijendra and Sepoy Ajay. The identity of the cop was not immediately known.
He said that the injured were evacuated to a hospital where the four wounded soldiers succumbed while the condition of the policeman is believed to be critical. The deceased officer has been identified as Major Brijesh Thappa, while the identities of the other slain soldiers and the injured policeman have not been revealed so far.
The Army’s Nagrota-based White Knight Corps posted on X:
“Op KOTHI – 2: Based on specific intelligence inputs, a joint operation by #IndianArmy and JKP was in progress in General area North of #Doda. Contact with terrorists was established tonight at about 2100h in which heavy firefight ensued. Initial reports suggest injuries to our bravehearts. Additional troops have been moved into the area. Operations are continuing.”
According to security agencies, at least two to three groups of militants totalling around two dozen men armed with sophisticated rifles have taken refuge in the forested areas of Pir Panjal region comprising Poonch, Rajouri and Reasi districts and Chenab Valley which includes the districts of Doda and Kishtwar, who are believed to be involved in these attacks.
Some of these militants are believed to have recently infiltrated along the Line of Control and International Border but the attacks on security personnel and civilians in Jammu region have spiked since 2019 after the Union government abrogated the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the erstwhile states into two union territories.
Since 2021, 51 security personnel, including some officers, and 19 civilians have been killed in terror attacks in the region where militancy was a thing of past till the Bhartiya Janta Party-led union government took direct control of J&K in 2018 following the attack on Sunjwan army base in Jammu in which five soldiers were killed.
In most of these attacks, militants have used armour-piercing bullets whose tips are covered with hardened steel and lightweight M4 carbine used by the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan to fight the Taliban.
Compared to the recent trends in Jammu and Kashmir, militants who operate in the Jammu region have suffered fewer casualties.
Authorities believe that the redeployment of security forces from Jammu to the Line of Actual Control due to the escalation with China following the Galwan clashes in Ladakh may have partly contributed to the growing trend of violence in Jammu.
While these attacks were restricted to Pir Panjal districts of Poonch and Rajouri initially, they have now spread to cover the entire Jammu region including Kathua and Reasi.
According to reports, by shifting the theatre of violence to the Jammu region, militants are adopting a new strategy for countering the government’s message that Jammu and Kashmir was peaceful.
This trend has been exacerbated by the void caused by the redeployment of armed forces in Ladakh and the breakdown of human intelligence networks in the Jammu region where armed forces were recently accused of torturing eight civilians, three of whom later succumbed to their injuries.
There are fears in the security establishment that the widening arc of violence could flare up communal tensions in Jammu where Muslims and Hindus live in a mixed population, unlike Kashmir which is predominantly Muslim.
Dozens of local suspects have been detained in Jammu region by security forces in connection with these attacks but there has been no major headway in the investigations.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi posted on X: ”Today, our soldiers lost their lives in another terrorist encounter in Jammu and Kashmir. I pay my humble tribute to them and express my deepest condolences to the bereaved families. Such horrific incidents happening one after the other is extremely sad and worrying.
“These continuous terrorist attacks are revealing the present situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Our soldiers and their families are bearing the brunt of the BJP’s wrong policies. Every patriotic Indian demands that the government should take full responsibility for the repeated security lapses and take strict action against the culprits,” he said in another post.
Rajnath Singh said on X: “Deeply saddened by the loss of our brave and courageous Indian Army Soldiers in a counter terrorist operation in Urrar Baggi, Doda (J&K). My heart goes out to the bereaved families. The Nation stands firmly with the families of our soldiers who have sacrificed their lives in the line of duty. The Counter Terrorist operations are underway, and our soldiers remain committed to eliminate the scourge of terrorism and restore peace and order in the region.”
This report is being updated as new information comes in.
