Intensive Search Operations Underway Following Deadly Kathua Attack: DGP Reviews Efforts on Ground

Intensive Search Operations Underway Following Deadly Kathua Attack: DGP Reviews Efforts on Ground

Jammu: On Tuesday, a massive search operation was launched to hunt down the terrorists responsible for the deadly ambush on an Army patrol party in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district. Director General of Police R R Swain flew to the area to directly oversee the operation.

The attack, which occurred on Monday in the remote Machedi area, resulted in the deaths of five Army personnel, including a junior commissioned officer, and left five others injured. Following postmortem examinations at the Sub District Hospital in Billawar, the bodies of the slain soldiers were handed over to the Army and airlifted to their homes for last rites, according to officials.

Accompanied by ADGP Anand Jain, DGP Swain conducted an aerial survey of the region and reviewed the ongoing ground operations. The search efforts have been expanded to cover large areas in the adjoining districts of Udhampur and Kathua, including Basantgarh, Seoj, and the upper reaches of Bani, Daggar, and Kindli.

Special forces from the Indian Army’s ‘Para’ unit have been deployed to conduct targeted operations against the terrorists. Ground search teams are receiving support from helicopter and UAV surveillance, sniffer dogs, and metal detectors, with a particular focus on dense forest areas.

A joint cordon and search operation involving the Army, police, and CRPF was launched in Machedi, Badnote, Kindli, and Lohai Malhar areas, with significant areas placed under cordon.

The bodies of the five soldiers were airlifted following postmortem examinations at the Sub District Hospital in Billawar. Additional Deputy Commissioner of Billawar, Vinay Khosla, confirmed that the bodies were handed over to the Army and subsequently airlifted. Six of the eight injured soldiers brought to the Billawar hospital were shifted to the Pathankot military hospital by the Army.

Officials have identified three to four groups of terrorists, mostly foreign militants, as being active in the region. There has been a noted increase in the presence of foreign militants in the Kathua-Udhampur-Doda and Poonch-Rajouri-Reasi belts.

Sources indicated that the ambush was likely carried out by three to four terrorists, believed to be part of the same group involved in the Basangarh attack on April 28, which resulted in the death of village defense guard Mohd Sharief. The method of the attack mirrored the Bhimbher Gali-Mendhar terror incident on April 21, 2023, where five soldiers were killed.

Investigations into the weaponry and ammunition used in the attack are ongoing. In June, security forces had observed movement of a group in the upper reaches of Bani, Daggar, and Kindli areas of Kathua district, prompting subsequent search operations.