Five Army personnel killed as militants trigger IED blast in Rajouri forest

Earlier in the day, the authorities suspended mobile internet services in Rajouri district.

This is the second major casualty among the security forces in a fortnight. On April 20, five soldiers were killed when militants ambushed an Army truck in Tota Gali area of Bhatta Durian in Poonch district, which is adjacent to Rajouri.

According to the Army, the personnel who were killed in the explosion were part of a team involved in a joint operation launched to track down the militants involved in the Poonch ambush.

Army PRO Lt Colonel Devender Anand in a statement said that Army personnel have been conducting “relentless intelligence-based operations to flush out” the militants involved in the ambush. As part of this joint operation, a search was launched in the forests of Kandi area of Rajouri district on May 3, he said.

Security personnel stand guard near the site of an encounter with terrorists in Kandi area of Rajouri district on Friday. (PTI Photo)

During the joint search – named Operation Trinetra – around 7.30 am Friday, a team of security personnel established contact with the group of militants, said Nagrota-based White Knight Corps of the Army.

The militants were well-entrenched in a cave in the area, which is thickly vegetated, with steep rocky cliffs.

On seeing the approaching troops, the militants “triggered an explosive device in retaliation’’, killing two soldiers on the spot and injuring four others, including an officer, said the Army PRO. He said the injured Army men were evacuated to the Command Hospital at Udhampur, where three of them died later in the day, taking the toll to five.

The soldiers killed in the explosion were identified as Lance Naik Ruchin Singh Rawat from Uttarakhand; Paratrooper Siddhant Chettri from West Bengal; Naik Arvind Kumar and Paratrooper Pramod Negi from Himachal Pradesh; and Havildar Neelam Singh from Jammu.

The Army PRO said there is likelihood of casualties among the militants as well.

The People’s Anti Fascist Front (PAFF), an offshoot of Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group, claimed responsibility for the killings. In a statement, the PAFF said it threw a “bait” on April 20 with the ambush on the Army truck near Bhatta Durian to draw the security forces into the jungle.

Sources in New Delhi said the antecedents of the source who gave the information on the militants’ hideout to the Army will be investigated.

Shortly after the explosion, a massive operation to track down the militants was launched under the supervision of Army and senior police officers, including Additional DGP, Jammu, Mukesh Singh. J&K DGP Dilbagh Singh along with senior CRPF and IB officers, too, reached the site. Additional forces were taken to the site of the operation on helicopters.

The killings on Friday took place at Kesari Top dhok in Kandi, situated in the higher reaches of Rajouri. It has Kashmir’s Shopian on one side and Kulgam on the other. From this place, according to locals, it takes 3-4 hours to reach Bhatta Durian – the site of the ambush – on a hilly and forest route.

The police have so far arrested nearly half a dozen people for allegedly providing logistical support to the militants involved in the April 20 ambush. Last week, DGP Singh had told reporters that those involved in the ambush were among the 9-12 foreign militants who may have infiltrated recently and were active in Rajouri and Poonch areas.

Since October 2021, militants have killed 29 people, including 20 Army soldiers, in this area between Bhatta Durian-Chamred forests in Poonch and Pargal-Dangri in Rajouri.

Sources in Delhi said infiltration bids have been less along the LoC, but terror groups have been providing incentives to militants crossing over to target security forces.

Meanwhile, security has been intensified on the route to Katra town, yatra tracks to Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine and its surrounding areas in Trikuta Hills. The J&K Police and CRPF have increased the number of check-points on the routes as well.

Inputs from ENS, New Delhi