This high casualty operation took place a week after five Army personnel were killed and five others injured on July 8 in the border area of Badnota village in Kathua district of Jammu.
The officials informed that at about 8:40 pm on July 15, the search party was able to establish contact with the militants hiding in the thickly forested and mountainous area of Dhari Gote Urrar Baggi in the Desa forest belt, some 55 km from Doda town. There was restricted visibility due to low clouds and rain.
“In the initial volley of fire, four Indian Army personnel were injured, who later succumbed to their injuries,” said an official. Later, a policeman from the Special Operation Group of J&K police, who had been injured in the initial firing, also succumbed to injuries. The Army men were identified as captain Brijesh Thapa, Naik D Rajesh, sepoy Bijendra and sepoy Ajay.
The officials said that the Indian Army has been conducting a series of joint and coordinated operations with the J&K Police to eliminate foreign militants who have infiltrated and are moving in the upper reaches of Udhampur, Doda, Kishtwar and Bhaderwah areas and thereafter to the Kashmir Valley. Similar Intelligence-based and area domination operations are continuing in the Kashmir region, North of the Pir Panjal ranges.”This was a trap and the infiltrators ambushed the joint team of the Army and the police in the forest. We have reports that they have fled with the weapons back into the thick forest,” said an official. The Jammu region remained relatively peaceful between 2005 and 2021 after armed forces managed to end militancy in the region. However, since 2021, the region has witnessed resurgence in militancy and fresh infiltrations took place across the Jammu region for which they are using old infiltration routes.
Since October 2021, at least 52 armed forces personnel and 20 civilians have been killed in the Jammu region in the intermittent high casualty operations. Police and Army officials maintain that “foreign intruders” remain a challenge.
