JAMMU: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday reached Jammu to take inventory of the safety state of affairs within the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch, the place terrorists have killed 35 folks, together with 26 troopers, in eight assaults since October 2021. Soon after arriving, Singh, accompanied by Army chief General Manoj Pande, left for Rajouri, the place an anti-terrorist operation is underway within the forested Kandi space, officers stated.
Five military personnel had been killed and a major-rank officer was injured throughout a combing operation — ‘Operation Trinetra’ — within the Kandi space on Friday. A holed up terrorist was killed and another is believed to be injured this morning. Officials stated the military chief reached Jammu from Delhi forward of the defence minister, who adopted him minutes later.
Northern Army commander Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi, Corps commander White Knight Corps, and Divisional Commissioner, Jammu are additionally accompanying Rajnath to Rajouri, officers stated. After getting a quick on the operation in Kandi forest, the defence minister will seemingly chair a high-level safety assembly to overview the general safety state of affairs in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in Rajouri and Poonch, they stated.
Earlier within the day, Lt Gen Dwivedi visited the encounter web site and was briefed on the developments within the ongoing ‘Operation Trinetra’ by floor commanders. Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu, which had been declared terrorism-free greater than a decade in the past, have been rocked by a sequence of lethal assaults by terrorists previously 18 months.
The lack of 5 jawans in Kandi forest is the third main incident this yr. It occurred at a time when the forces had been engaged in an enormous combing operation for the previous 15 days following an ambush on a military truck in Bhata Dhurian (Poonch). Five troopers had been killed and one other was injured on April 20 when a military truck carrying vegatables and fruits for Iftar was bombed and strafed with bullets by terrorists.
More than 250 folks had been detained for questioning throughout combing operations within the wake of the incident. Six overground employees who prolonged full assist to terrorists had been arrested, they stated. According to army officers, terrorists now have adopted a technique of participating troops or attacking folks after which laying improvised explosive units to hurt safety forces engaged in combing operations.
This additionally occurred in Dhangri village in Rajouri the place terrorists killed seven civilians in two assaults that got here on heels of one another on January 1 this yr. In two main incidents in Rajouri in 2022, 5 military personnel and two terrorists had been killed in a suicide assault at a safety camp at Pargal-Darhal on August 11, whereas two civilians had been killed in a firing incident outdoors a military camp close to Rajouri city.
Four blasts rocked Kotranka in Rajouri district between March and April final yr. All these circumstances had been labored out by police with the arrest of the accused. Nine military personnel had been killed in two separate encounters with terrorists in Bhatta Durrian in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch districts in October 2021.
Two military personnel, considered one of them a lieutenant, had been killed in a mine blast in Nowshera sector of Rajouri on October 30, 2021. Rajouri and Poonch districts have witnessed extra killings of Army personnel than the militancy-hit Kashmir Valley.
