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Two soldiers were on Thursday injured in a gunfight between terrorists and security forces at Kastigarh in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district, where an Indian Army captain and three soldiers were gunned down on Monday night amid a wave of terror attacks.
A police officer said the fresh gunfight was triggered during searches amid high alert and following a suspicious movement in Kastigarh around 3.40 am on Thursday. “A contact was established with terrorists, who opened fire. During the initial gunfight, two soldiers were injured,” said the officer, who did not want to be named. He added the soldiers were shifted to a nearby hospital.
The terrorists involved in the Kastigarh gunfight are believed to be the same who carried out Monday’s attack on an Army search party in the Desa forest. Additional reinforcements have been rushed to the area even as one Showket Ali was arrested for allegedly providing food and sheltering three terrorists days before the Desa attack. “It is not clear as yet whether the three terrorists Ali harboured at his house carried out Monday’s attack in Desa forest or there was another group involved,” said a person aware of the matter.
Security forces suspect several smaller groups of two to three terrorists have managed to infiltrate into mountainous district of Doda.
The person cited above said Ali has confessed to harbouring terrorists for three days. “He also provided Wi-Fi to the terrorists to talk to their handlers in Pakistan.”
The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Wednesday said that they have intensified their crackdown on what they described as an overground worker (OGW) network in Doda and arrested three suspects following terror attacks in June and July. The three were identified as Mubashir Hussain, Safder Ali, and Sajad Ahmed.
In a statement, police said they were committed to dismantling the OGW network in Doda. “More arrests are likely to be carried out soon.”
The wave of terror attacks has sparked concerns that the Jammu region, where Doda is located, is emerging as the new epicentre of violence in Jammu and Kashmir. The latest attack was the fourth in the forests of Doda in the past three weeks and the 12th in Jammu this year, in which 11 security personnel and 11 civilians have been killed. Five terrorists have also been killed.
On Tuesday, defence spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Suneel Bartwal said additional troops and equipment have been deployed to flush out foreign terrorists who infiltrated into India and were spotted moving in the upper reaches of Jammu in Udhampur, Doda, Kishtwar, and Bhaderwah districts. Similar operations were being conducted in Kathua where terrorists lobbed hand grenades and fired with automatic weapons at an army truck, 250km from the Doda encounter site, in Kathua on July, 8 leaving five soldiers from Uttarakhand dead.
Terror activity in areas south of the Pir Panjal mountains that divide Jammu and Kashmir regions, including the Rajouri-Poonch sector, has spiked during the last two years. The army has sent more troops to the sector, reoriented its units, and strengthened the intelligence network for counterterror operations.
Security forces recalibrated their responses as Jammu, Rajouri, Poonch, and Reasi districts became clear targets for Pakistan-based terror groups
Seven soldiers were killed in counterterror operations in the Kashmir Valley last year compared to 20 in the Rajouri-Poonch sector. A total of 71 terrorists were killed in Jammu and Kashmir in 2023, including 51 in the Kashmir Valley and 20 in the Rajouri-Poonch area.
The Kathua attack came after twin gunbattles in the Kulgam district of Kashmir in which six terrorists and two soldiers were killed this month.
On June 9, terrorists attacked a pilgrim bus in Reasi leaving nine people dead and 42 others injured. Three terrorists were killed after a gunfight broke out between terrorists and security forces in the Gandoh area of Doda district on June 26.
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