A massive search operation is underway to track down terrorists responsible for the deadly terror attack on Indian army trucks in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district that left five personnel dead. There has been a spike in terror attacks in the Jammu region with terrorists taking advantage of dense forests and natural caves that act as hideouts for them.
At about 03:30 PM on Monday, terrorists, believed to be four to five in number, opened gunfire and lobbed grenades at the trucks leaving 10 jawans injured, a pattern seen in attacks which have taken place in Rajouri and Poonch districts. Terrorists have taken advantage of bad roads and blind curves to ambush vehicles in the region.
These mountainous passes have blind curves which give terrorists an advantage as trucks slow down, a pattern witnessed in the Reasi bus attack which left 9 pilgrims dead on June 9 this year followed by a similar attack on the Indian Air Force truck in Poonch on May 4, leaving an IAF personnel dead while four were injured.
The security forces haven’t shied away from accepting infiltrations that have taken place in the Jammu region while claiming the number of foreign terrorists was 30-40 who are highly trained and armed to the teeth.
“There are foreign terrorists who have managed to infiltrate and all of us in the security establishment have more or less agreed to it, we are aware of it and we haven’t shied away from it,” DGP J&K RR Swain told media in Jammu earlier this month.
In a month, five terror attacks have taken place in four districts of Jammu – Reasi, Doda, Kathua, and Rajouri. The police recently regularised nine Special police officers (SPOs) each in Kathua and Doda as constable for carrying out successful encounters by eliminating five terrorists in these areas.
Start of Terror in Jammu Region
Terror in the Jammu region began on October 11, 2021, with a gun battle that lasted for over 10 days in Chamrer and Bhatta Durrian forests in Poonch district.
Five Army men lost their lives in Chamrer forests, which was followed by four more in Bhatta Durrian forests in just six days which included two junior commissioned officers.
Two more Army men were killed in action in the Nowshera sector of Rajouri on October 30, 2021. Later, on August 11, 2022, five soldiers were killed while two attackers were neutralised in a terror attack in the Darhal area of Rajouri. In April 2023, five army men again lost their lives at Bhatta Durrian in Mendhar, Poonch. Then five PARA commandos lost their lives in another attack. This was followed by an IED explosion by reorients in the Kandi area of Rajouri in which a Major rank officer was injured.
Two captains including five men from the Army were killed in action and two Pakistani terrorists were killed in November 2023 in Kalakote Rajouri. Later, five more were killed at Dera Ki Gali in Poonch in December last year.
These incidents alerted the forces about the possibility of terrorists trying to gain a foothold in the hills of Poonch and Rajouri which were terror-free for years. The areas like Poonch, Rajouri, and Doda have seen terrorism in the past but later a special operation called Operation Sarp Vinash was launched in 2003 to flush out terrorists who made bases in the Hilkaka Poonch-Surankote. This was a division-size operation involving seven battalions and two brigade headquarters. Spearheaded by the 9 Para Special Forces, six other units of the 163 Infantry Brigade and 12 RR sector took part. This resulted in eliminating almost 60 terrorists and peace started to prevail by and large.
When India and China came face to face in Galwan in 2020, the Army was moved to Ladakh and deployed along the Line of Actual Control from these areas of Jammu since they were peaceful. Meanwhile, India and Pakistan had also agreed to adhere to ceasefire understanding after frequent exchanges on the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly after the abrogation of Article 370.
After a spate of attacks on the security forces in this area, a gap was felt, which prompted the Indian Army to deploy additional troops to the Rajouri-Poonch sector around 2023.
Terrorists have also targeted civilians in the Jammu region. Seven civilians were killed in a terror attack in Dangri village of Rajouri district in January 2023 while a bus carrying pilgrims was targeted in Reasi leaving 9 of them dead and multiple injured.
All this has led to a further challenge, a new front for the security forces to deal with while the Army continue their large presence in Ladakh and Kashmir.
Highly Trained Terrorists Armed to the Teeth
Terrorists who are operating in these forests are believed to be highly trained and armed with some advanced weapons including M4 rifles used by the US forces. The Army has suspected that some of these terrorists are retired Pakistani soldiers.
“They may have received training in many countries, including Pakistan and Afghanistan. They were very well trained which is why it took us some time to eliminate them,” the then General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Northern Command and now the Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi had told media.
For those trained in the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan, these terrains don’t pose much of a challenge.
The security forces have often found M4 rifles being used by these terrorists in the Jammu region with thermal scopes attached to them. In Doda last month, when Jammu and Kashmir police killed three terrorists, an M4 rifle with a thermal scope was recovered which was powered by a battery pack for longer duration use. The setup many say is common in Afghanistan and other parts of Pakistan. The weapon left after the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan has also found its way into J&K.
These terrorists are also using steel-core armor-piercing bullets that penetrate ballistic armor and protective shields.
In recoveries made by the security forces, highly encrypted Chinese telecom gear known as “Ultra Set,” which is used by the Pakistan Army, was recovered from the terrorists. In the Surankote area of Poonch and Sopore area of Kashmir, recoveries of these devices were made by the forces after gunfights.
The security forces have also deployed young men to these areas to flush out these terrorists who are now striking in different parts of Jammu and inflicting heavy casualties.
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