Op enters into fifth day in thickly forested area of Poonch
The Indian Army has suffered more losses even as the ongoing counter-terrorist operation entered into its fifth day in the thickly forested area of Mendhar tehsil in Poonch district on Friday.
The traffic remained disrupted on the Jammu-Poonch highway for the second consecutive day even as massive searches were being conducted in the area to track down the footprints of the terrorists.
So far seven Indian soldiers, including one JCO, six other ranks have sacrificed their lives in the line of duty. Two more Army personnel were killed in an encounter with terrorists in Poonch, officials said on Friday. During the exchange of fire, two Army personnel were critically injured and they later succumbed to their injuries, he said, adding the operation is still going on.
Earlier, the a defence public relation officer (PRO) had said the body of a junior commissioned officer (JCO) is yet to be recovered. However, he later said the body was identified of that of a jawan and not of the JCO.
“In an ongoing counter-terrorism operation in the general area of Nar Khas forest in Mendhar sub-division there was an exchange of fire between army troops and terrorists during the evening hours of Thursday,” the PRO said.
A militant involved in the recent civilian killings in Srinagar was gunned down in an encounter with security forces in Pulwama on Friday, police said.
Meanwhile, in order to flush out the terrorists without suffering more collateral damage the Indian Army on Friday inducted special forces to assist the jawans of the Rashtriya Rifles. Several other advanced technologies have been put to use to hunt down the group of heavily armed terrorists inside the jungle area of Bhata Dhurian in Mendhar.
Defence spokesman Lt-Col Devender Anand in a statement said, “A counter terrorist operation by the Army is in progress in the area of Nar Khas Forest in Mendhar, District Poonch since the evening of 14 Oct 2021. During the operation, there was heavy exchange of fire and in the ensuing gun fight Rifleman Vikram Singh Negi and Rifleman Yogambar Singh were critically injured and later succumbed to their injuries.”
He said, “26-year-old Rifleman Vikram Singh Negi and 27-year-old Rifleman Yogambar Singh displayed exemplary courage, devotion and made the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty.”
Both of them hailed from Uttarakhand.
It is yet not confirmed how many terrorists are hiding in the area. Preliminary assessment made by the security forces suggested same group of terrorists present in the Dera ki Gali area of Surankote has now moved to Bhata Dhurian area of Mendhar tehsil and selectively targeting jawans of the Indian Army.
On the other hand, security experts have a different view point. They claimed the terrorists have divided themselves into small groups and are roaming around inside the thick forest belt of Dera Ki Gali and Bhata Dhurian to confuse the jawans. So far exchange of firing has been reported in both these areas in the last five days at different intervals.
Since July 2021, at least eight operations have taken place in the frontier districts of Rajouri and Poonch. The infiltrators are using the same route to reach Kashmir valley via Pir ki Gali along the Mughal road axis to reach Shopian.
Before the onset of the peak winter in Jammu and Kashmir, the terrorist handlers have been traditionally pushing the heavily armed group of infiltrators via this route.
Several launching pads having the presence of trained terrorists have been activated by the different terrorist outfits in the recent months.
