Army launches a massive search to track down terrorists
Srinagar: An Army Captain and a non-commissioned officer (NCO) were killed and another jawan was injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) was detonated by suspected militants near the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Akhnoor sector on Tuesday. The incident prompted the Army to launch a massive search to track down the assailants.
The Army sources said that the IED struck a patrolling party while it was moving near the LoC fence in Akhnoor’s Laleali area at around 3.50 pm. The Army’s Nagrota (Jammu)-based 16 Corps, the ‘White Knight Corps’, while confirming it said in a post on ‘X’, “Suspected IED blast reported in Laleali in Akhnoor sector during a fence patrol resulting in two fatalities.” It added, “Own troops are dominating the area and search operations are underway. White Knight Corps salutes and pays tribute to the supreme sacrifice of two gallant soldiers.”
The police sources identified the slain soldiers as Captain K.S. Bakshi and Naik (NCO) Mukesh, but the Army said that, as per the precedence, their personal particulars cannot be shared with media before their families being informed about the loss.
This was the third incident of cross-border action by suspected militants in the Jammu region in four days. On Monday, an Army Havildar received a bullet wound after he was targeted from across the LoC in the Kalal area of the Nowshera sector in Rajouri district. The Army had said that NCO Puran Singh was targeted from across the de facto border while he was manning a forward post at Kalal in the LoC’s Keri sector by terrorists who were apparently waiting for an opportunity to sneak into the India side of the fence.
In the intervening night of February 4 and February 5, a land mine explosion took place in the Krishna Ghati sector of the neighbouring Poonch district. The Army believed that a few militants who were trying to sneak into J&K from PoJK were killed or injured in the blast but there was no confirmation of intending infiltrators suffering casualties from independent sources.
At the weekend, the Army, J&K police’s counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jointly launched cordon-and-search-operations (CASOs) covering about a dozen places in the Mendhar, Surankote and Gursai areas of the Poonch district following information about suspicious movement. The officials had said that a siege was laid around Lower Chanan, Sair, Sanai Forest, Chiti Bhati and Fazalabad in Surankote, Darai forest and adjoining areas in Mendhar, and Khokhar Mohalla, Kandi and Galhutta in Gursai after the locals informed that police about movement of some suspected persons in the wooded areas.
On Monday, the Commander of the White Knight Corps Lieutenant General Navin Sachdeva visited Rajouri to review the “hostile activities” along the LoC. Accompanied by the General-Officer-Commanding of the Ace of Spades Division and his counterpart at the Crossed Swords Division, Lt. Gen. Sachdeva interacted with the Army officers and jawans and obtained information on the prevailing security situation and the “hostile activities” in the forwarded areas from them, a defence spokesman had said in Jammu.
A statement issued by the Army's Northern Command late Tuesday evening said, "Lt. Gen. M V Suchindra Kumar, Army Commander Northern Command, and all ranks of Dhruva Command solemnly salute the supreme sacrifice of brave hearts Capt Karamjit Singh Bakshi and Naik Mukesh in a suspected IED blast in Akhnoor. Dhruva Command stands firm with the bereaved family in this hour of grief.”
