5 Army personnel martyred during anti-terrorist operation in Rajouri

STATE TIMES NEWS

RAJOURI: Five Army personnel were martyred and a major was injured on Friday in an explosion triggered by terrorists in the thickly forested Kandi area in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district where an operation was underway to flush out terrorists, officials said.
The operation, still underway, was launched following inputs about the presence of a group of terrorists involved in an ambush on an Army truck in Bhata Dhurian of Poonch district last month, in which five security personnel were martyred.

LG Manoj Sinha expresses condolences with martyrs’ families; monitoring situation
JAMMU: Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha has extended his deepest condolences to the families of army personnel who made the supreme sacrifice in the ongoing operation against the terrorists in Rajouri.
“I convey my heartfelt condolences to the families of the brave army personnel martyred in a joint operation against terrorists. We are firmly resolved to combat and defeat the terrorist menace, which is sponsored from across the border,” the Lieutenant Governor said. Lt Governor is monitoring the developments and he is in touch with the top officials of army and Jammu Kashmir Police.

Before Friday’s attack, the twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri have witnessed seven major terrorist incidents since October 2021 in which 29 people, including 22 Army personnel, have been killed.
As the anti-terrorist operation was underway, mobile internet facilities in the Rajouri area have been suspended.
According to a statement from the Army’s Northern Command in the morning, its personnel have been conducting “relentless intelligence-based operations to flush out a group of terrorists involved in an ambush on an Army truck in the Tota Gali area of Bhata Dhurian in Jammu region last month”.
“On specific information about the presence of terrorists in the Kandi Forest in the Rajouri Sector, a joint operation was launched on May 3. Around 7.30 am on Friday, a search team established contact with a group of terrorists well entrenched in a cave. The area is thickly vegetated with rocky and steep cliffs.
Officials said additional troops of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Army were inducted into the area to put it in tight cordon so that terrorists do not escape from the spot.
The forces deployed drones and sniffer dogs and troops hit a cave hideout with heavy fire of mortars and grenades, they said.
“The terrorists triggered an explosive device in retaliation,” it said.
In the morning, two Army men belonging to the Special Forces were killed and four, including the major, injured during the operation in Rajouri sector. Later in the day, three died in a hospital in Udhampur.
“There is a likelihood of casualties in the terrorist group and the operation is in progress,” it said.
The slain soldiers were lance naik Ruchin Singh Rawat from Gairsain in Uttarakhand, paratrooper Siddhant Chettri from Darjeeling in West Bengal, naik Arvind Kumar from Kangra district in Himachal Pradesh, havildar Neelam Singh from Jammu and paratrooper Pramod Negi from Sirmaur in Himachal Pradesh.
Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Mukesh Singh rushed to the spot and reviewed the security setup, they said.
The security forces have been engaged in a massive combing operation for the past 15 days in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch districts. The operations started after the attack on Army vehicle in Bhatta Dhurian in which five soldiers were killed and another was injured on April 20.
More than 250 people were detained for questioning during combing operations. Six overground workers who extended full support to terrorists were arrested, they said.
The terrorists have adopted a twin strategy of engaging troops or attacking people and then laying improvised explosive devices to trigger blast to target security forces.
This also happened in Dhangri village in Rajouri where terrorists killed seven civilians in twin attacks on January 1 this year.
Terrorists carried out an attack on 11 October 2021 in Surankote, martyring five soldiers, followed by the martyrdom of three soldiers and two jawans in Dera ki Gali on October 13 and 15.
Two jawans were killed in an IED blast in Kalal in Rajouri in October 30.
On August 11 last year, five soldiers were martyred in a fidayeen attack on a military camp in Rajouri.
In the last one-and-a-half years, Poonch and Rajouri districts in Jammu and Kashmir have witnessed more martyrdom of Army personnel than the terrorism-hit Kashmir Valley, officials said.
Azad, Omar express grief over martyrdom of Army personnel
Political parties in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday expressed grief over the martyrdom of five soldiers in a blast in Rajouri district, saying their sacrifice for the nation will not be forgotten.
Ghulam Nabi Azad, Democratic Progressive Azad Party chairman and former Chief Minister expressed his grief and anguish over the martyrdom of five soldiers and said that the sacrifice of valiant jawans will be remembered forever in the history of country. He said that the people across the country are living peacefully only because of these sacrifice by these sons of the soil.
“My deepest condolences to the families of those jawans who laid their lives in the line of duty in Rajouri Over the past few decades terrorism in Jammu Kashmir consumed precious lives and we all need to stand against it and condemn it in strongest words,” he said, adding the scourge of terrorism deserves the highest level of condemnation by all people and the time has come when it needs to be rooted out once for all.
National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah said terrorism deserves “unreserved condemnation”.
“Tragic news from Rajouri where 5 army personnel have laid down their lives in the line of duty. Terror is a scourge that has blighted numerous lives over the decades in J&K & deserves unreserved condemnation. I send my sincere condolences to the families of those we lost today,” the former Chief Minister said on Twitter.
Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti termed the loss of lives in the blast “terrible”.
“Terrible news coming in. My deepest condolences to the families of those who died in the line of duty,” she said in a tweet.
Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari said the sacrifice of the soldiers for the safety of the nation will never be forgotten.
“Deeply saddened by the tragic news from Rajouri. My thoughts are with the families of the brave soldiers who lost their lives in the ongoing encounter. Their sacrifice for the safety of our nation will never be forgotten,” he tweeted.
Expressing shock over the martyrdom of five jawans in encounter with terrorists in Kandi area of Rajouri, JKPCC has strongly condemned the heinous incident, the second in fifteen days in the border districts.
Strongly condemning the deadly incident, JKPCC has said that the repeated incidents are eye opener and terrorism is again raising it’s ugly head in the twin border districts of Rajouri Poonch. The recent incidents of Mendhar and now Kandi apart from minority killings in Dhangri and Phaliana have established the presence of terrorists and that the militancy is on revival in Rajouri Poonch districts, an official party statement said.
The Centre must deal with the challenge of Pak sponsored terrorism and firmly curb terrorism besides give befitting response to terrorists and Pakistan on all fronts, said JKPCC Chief Spokesperson Ravinder Sharma and former Minister and District President Rajouri Shabir Ahmed Khan.
The party sympathised with the families of martyrs and prayed for peace to the souls of martyrs and recovery of the injured.
Gaurav Gupta, former General Secretary of Chamber of Commerce and Industries (CCI) Jammu strongly condemns the dastardly act of terrorists in Rajouri in which five soldiers personnel achieved martyrdom and several were injured.
Paying rich tributes to the martyred soldiers, Gaurav Gupta said that in this hour of pain the people of this nation stand highly indebted to the security force personnel who are ever ready to lay down their lives for the cause of the nation. He said it is because of their relentless vigilance and alertness that people feel safe and secure and live peacefully.
He expressed sympathies with the family members of the martyrs’ and prayed for peace to the departed souls. He also conveyed sympathies to injured security personnel praying for their early recovery.