Jammu: Terrorist killed in Jammu, day after 3 soldiers die in Kashmir ambush | India News

SRINAGAR/ JAMMU: A terrorist was gunned down when a combined team of J&K police, Army, and CRPF initiated a cordon-and-search operation in response to information about the presence of terrorists in the Khawas area of Jammu region’s Rajouri district on Saturday. As the team approached a hideout, the terrorist opened fire, triggering a gunfight.

The shootout marked an escalation in counter-terrorism operations after three soldiers died and two of their colleagues were wounded in an ambush on a 34 Rashtriya Rifles team while they were setting up a tent in the thick mountainside forests of Halan in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Friday evening.
Over the course of three years since 2021, J&K has recorded 29 military fatalities from terrorist attacks, including 13 this year alone, underscoring the ongoing challenges in the region’s security landscape.

Security sources said Saturday that “three to four foreign terrorists” targeted the soldiers from behind tree lines in Halan, throwing a hand grenade, and then engaging them with gunshots, which wounded five of them. The soldiers responded with quick counter-fire, but the attackers managed to escape.
Havildar Babulal Haritwal, Signalman Vala Mahipalsinh Pravinsinh, and Rifleman Waseem Sarwar died later during treatment. The other two wounded soldiers are reported to be in stable condition. Sarwar, a native of Bandipora in north Kashmir, had enlisted in the Army in 2014. He was a talented footballer who played for Iqra Football Club in Dachigam. He leaves behind his expecting wife. The couple had married in November 2021.
The security forces launched Saturday morning a massive search-and-destroy mission against the terrorists suspected to be hiding in the woods. They were using drones, while additional troops and the Army’s Para Special Forces have been moved into the area, sources said.
“Operation Halan #Kulgam…Search operations are continuing,” the Srinagar-based Chinar Corps of the Army posted on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter.
The forces were also combing the Kund region of the district after a blast-like sound was heard when military vehicles were passing through the area, sources said.
This was the third major terrorist attack on the military this year in J&K, following the deaths of 10 soldiers on April 20 and May 5 in the two frontier districts of Poonch and Rajouri in the Jammu region. Five para commandos were killed and a major was wounded in an IED explosion in Rajouri during a counteroffensive against fleeing terrorists, who had ambushed a military truck and killed five soldiers in Bhata Dhurian of Poonch district on April 20.
Notably, recent years have seen a shift in the distribution of terrorist attacks, with Poonch and Rajouri districts of Jammu division experiencing a higher number of fatal attacks compared to the Kashmir Valley.
On Friday, the Rashtriya Rifles team was deployed for an area domination exercise in Halan, and there were “specific inputs” about the presence of terrorists in the area, known for its dense vegetation with a lot of undergrowth. Sources said the terrorists had recently entered J&K through the Pir Panjal range.
Sources attributed the latest attack to what the security establishment calls a “big day offensive”, when terrorists are typically known to escalate violence in J&K before and during a major event like Independence Day or, in this case, the fourth anniversary of the revocation of Article 370. The constitutional provision that provided special status to the region was removed on August 5, 2019.

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Chronology of Terror Attacks on Soldiers in J&K: 2021-2023

A total of 29 soldiers have been killed in terrorist attacks in J&K since 2021, underscoring the challenges posed by the complex and evolving situation in the region.
*August 4, 2023: 3 soldiers killed, 2 wounded in attack on a 34 Rashtriya Rifles team in Halan forests of south Kashmir’s Kulgam
*May 5, 2023: 5 para commandos killed, a major wounded in an IED explosion in Rajouri district of Jammu region
*April 20, 2023: 5 soldiers killed in a terrorist ambush on a military truck in Bhata Dhurian of Poonch district of Jammu region
*December 16, 2022: Terrorist attack near military camp in Rajouri town; two civilians killed
*August 11, 2022: 5 soldiers killed and two suicide attackers eliminated during an attack on an Army camp at Pargal in Darhal area of Rajouri district
*October 30, 2021: A Lieutenant and a soldier killed in an improvised landmine blast in Nowshera sector of Rajouri district
*October 16, 2021: A JCO among 4 soldiers killed in a gunfight with terrorists at Bhata Dhurian in Poonch district
*October 11, 2021: 5 soldiers, including a JCO, killed in a shootout with terrorists at Chamrer forests of Surankote sub-division in Poonch district