It is believed that 25-30 Pakistani terrorists have been hiding in the upper reaches of the Poonch-Rajouri sector to launch attacks on security forces and defence forces suspect a nexus between Pakistan and China to revive terrorism in the sector to pressurise removal of troops from Ladakh.
Defence sources said that terror activities in the sector have spiked in recent years after the Army moved the Uniform Force of the Rashtriya Rifles to Ladakh to counter Chinese aggression in 2020. Troops with the Rashtriya Rifles – a specialist counter insurgency force – were moved to Ladakh after China brought in thousands of troops to disputed areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
“The game plan seems to be to be revive terrorism in the Poonch-Rajouri sector to pressurise the Army to remove troops from Ladakh and redeploy them to an anti-insurgency role,” sources said. They added that the Army has recently moved another brigade to the sector to counter terror activities and it has achieved success, neutralising close to 20 Pakistani terrorists.
The forests of the Pir Panchal mountains falling between Rajouri-Poonch range in Jammu division and Kulgam-Anantnag range in Kashmir have witnessed heightened militant activity in the last year, resulting in high casualties. Officials said that in the past few years, militants have managed to construct all-weather hideouts in the forests that provide them a strategic advantage. The armed forces have killed around 80 militants including over 40 foreigners across J&K this year till now.
Thursday’s attack took place around 3:45 pm, when two army vehicles came under attack at a blind curve at Dhatyar Morh between Dhera Ki Gali and Bufliaz area falling under the jurisdiction of the Surankote police station. The officials claim that the attackers could be three to four in number associated with People’s Anti Fascist Front, an offshoot of Jaish-e-Muhammad.”Over 20 people have been detained from around the area where the incident took place and other suspects on the radar have been called for questioning as well,” a senior official posted in the area told ET. The officials informed that helicopters and drones have been deployed for aerial surveillance of the area as the attackers might be hiding in the nearby forests.This year Rajouri, Poonch and Reasi districts of Jammu witnessed a string of operations in which 55 persons, including 20 armed forces personnel and 28 militants were killed. The armed forces also launched a search operation in Kishtwar district following the leads to unravel the militant networks operating in the region.
