Ahead of the impending heavy winter, Jammu & Kashmir is witnessing a sudden flare-up in encounters between security forces and terrorists. The Army has lost a Colonel and two soldiers while a Lieutenant Colonel and another soldier have been injured in the last one week, as militants make a last-ditch effort to infiltrate across the Line of Control before snow shuts out higher passes.
In the latest incident, four terrorists were killed in two separate encounters in Anantnag and Kupwara districts on Monday. A soldier was also killed in an encounter near the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district. He was identified as Sepoy Sudimesh from Kerala.
The operation in Kupwara district of Southern Kashmir began on November 13 when a team of the Army and police were conducting a search operation based on specific information. It has so far claimed the lives of a full Colonel and a soldier while a Lt Col has been injured.
After first contact, the terrorists fled into the thick forest area and the Army launched a full-scale operation to flush out the terrorists. An Army jawan was injured on the first day of the operation. “They were fired upon first during the search,” said an officer.
Hostile terrain“The area has dense forest cover and visibility is not more than two metres. If you cannot see, how can you operate?” questioned a senior officer serving in Kashmir. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) cannot operate in the area and satellites are ineffective due to the think forest and tough terrain. However, officials said some artillery elements had been moved in to support the troops.
Terrorists have been on the run and the Army is in pursuit, however, a complete cordon off is difficult due to the dense forest cover in the area. Due to this, contact with terrorists has been intermittent and the operation has stretched for 11 days.
On the reasons for such delay, a senior officer said that there seems to be a change in strategy on the terrorists. “They fire the initial salvo and run away. They are not engaging.”
Their motive seems to keep hiding and fire on anybody who comes close, he observed and added, “If they are cornered means they are finished. So they try to disengage.”
In the second incident, three terrorists of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen were killed in Silgam village of Anantnag district by personnel of 3 Rashtriya Rifles. The trio -- identified as Adil, Tanvir and Sartaz -- were hiding in a house and tried to run and were killed in an encounter in the fields, officials said. Of them, Sartaz is a new recruit.
Militancy has been in a slow revival mode in J&K over the last few months. One of the key reasons is the sudden spurt in the number of local militants joining the ranks. Army sources insist that there was a desperate effort to push in militants into the Valley to push up militancy-related incidents. Until October 25, 169 militancy-related incidents have already taken place against 170 in the entire 2014 period.
General Officer Commanding of the 15 Corps Lt Gen S K Dua recently said that “over 300 militants are waiting at the launch pads near the LoC to infiltrate.”
