A militant ambush on army vehicles on the way to reinforce a joint operation in Jammu’s Poonch district left four soldiers dead and three injured, in what seems to be another deadly addition to a definite militant strategy to lure soldiers into their trap.

The ambush came a month after militants killed two army captains and three soldiers in a similar gunfight in adjoining Rajouri district.

The twin districts are part of the Pir Panjal region, which has seen a revival of militancy after nearly two decades. The militancy revival followed the 2019 scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and is seen as a Pakistani strategy to reopen an old front against security forces.

“An operation was being conducted in the general area DKG (Dera ki Gali), Thanamandi, Rajouri, since the night of 20 December 23. At approximately 3:45 PM on 21 December, two army vehicles carrying troops were moving to the operational site, which were fired upon by the terrorist. The fire was immediately retaliated upon by own troops,” a defence spokesman said in a statement earlier in the day. “In the ongoing operation, own troops sustained 3 fatal and 3 non-fatal casualties. Operations are in progress. Further details are being ascertained.”

Raw footage showed blood splattered on the ground near a damaged army Gypsy.

“It seems militants were anticipating army movements on the road due to the operation nearby,” a police source said.

Former Jammu and Kashmir police chief S.P. Vaid tweeted that the “Poonch attack” was a “well-planned concerted effort by Pakistan establishment-terrorists to change the narrative of improvement in situation in Jammu and Kashmir after abrogation of #Article370.”

Last month, two army captains and three soldiers were killed in a two-day gunfight — which was the third time in a year that the army had lost as many soldiers in a single gunfight in the Pir Panchal region. Two militants involved in the attack were also killed.

The region has seen a spate of high-profile attacks this year amid repeated government claims of a decrease in militancy across Jammu and Kashmir.

Seven members of the minority Hindu community were killed and several others were injured in Dangri on New Year’s Eve.

Five soldiers, including four elite special forces commandos from the 9 Para, were killed in the Kandi gunfight in Rajouri on May 5.

Five soldiers were killed on April 20 in a daring ambush on the army in Poonch district.

Over 35 soldiers have been killed in action during anti-militancy operations in the area in the past two years.

Kashmir has also witnessed several major incidents, including the Kokernag gunfight in which a colonel, a major, a deputy superintendent of police and a soldier were killed in September.

Most of the army casualties have taken place in hilly terrains, suggesting a militant strategy to shift the battle from the plains to the hills. In most of these incidents, it appeared militants had lured the soldiers into their traps.