SRINAGAR: Naib Subedar Rakesh Kumar, a junior commissioned officer (JCO) attached with 2 Para Special Forces, was killed and three more soldiers were wounded during a gunfight with terrorists in Keshwan forest of J&K’s Kishtwar district Sunday morning.
Kumar’s death brought the number of security force fatalities in terrorist attacks in J&K to 25 since May 4 — with 19 in Jammu region and six in Kashmir.
“The wounded soldiers were airlifted to the military base hospital in Udhampur,” an official said.
Sunday’s shooting happened when security forces were pursuing terrorists tied to Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) group, responsible for the abduction and murder of two village defence guards (VDGs) three days ago.
Officials said the soldiers intercepted a group of three to four terrorists, described by the Army’s Jammu-based White Knight Corps as “the same group which had abducted and killed” the two VDGs.
The bodies of VDGs Nazir Ahmed, 42, and Kuldeep Kumar, 40, who were unarmed and grazing cattle in the area, were found bound, blindfolded, and shot from behind in nearby Kuntwara forest. The brutal murders had triggered an intensive joint search by the Army and J&K police.
In a separate operation near Srinagar, security forces engaged with a group of two to three terrorists in the forests of Ishbar — the picturesque foothills of Zabarwan range extending from Chashme Shahi to Nishat Bagh. This stretch has several high-security buildings such as the Raj Bhavan and military camps.
Terrorists have taken refuge in the mountains near Srinagar after over three decades. BSF pickets prevented them from using this area as a shelter until now.
The shootout began Sunday morning after specific intelligence indicated the presence of terrorists on the city’s forested outskirts. “The cordon has been intensified,” central Kashmir DIG Rajiv Pandey said, before the operation was halted due to nightfall.
Police said a seek-and-kill campaign has been continuing since Saturday in the Rampur-Rajpur forest area of Sopore, resulting in the death of an unidentified terrorist. Two other group members may still be in the area. On Friday, two terrorists were killed in a separate gunfight in Sopore.
The forces have gunned down at least 30 terrorists since May, including nine in recent days: three in Sopore on Nov 8 and 9, one each in Bandipora and Kupwara on Nov 6, two in Bandipora on Nov 5, and Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Usman among three in Srinagar and Anantnag on Nov 2.
The operations mark a continuation of escalating efforts by security forces to combat terrorist violence amidst rising concerns over cross-border support for groups operating in the region. There has been an uptick in attacks and multiple fatalities since an elected govt assumed office in J&K after six years in mid-Oct.
Before the two VDGs were murdered, an ambush near Gulmarg in Baramulla killed two soldiers and two civilian porters on Oct 24. In Shopian, a migrant worker from Bihar was fatally shot on Oct 18, followed by the murder of seven tunnel construction workers in Ganderbal on Oct 20.