Jammu’s inhospitable mountainous terrain again became a killing field for the security forces on Monday night when an army captain and three soldiers fell to militant bullets.

The development adds another gory chapter to the latest round of bloodletting in the region that began on the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office for the third term.

The army men were killed during a gunfight in Doda district of Jammu that broke out after the security forces launched an operation based on specific inputs about the
presence of militants. However, official sources indicated that the soldiers might
have walked into a militant trap with the insurgents deliberately leaking information about their presence to lure the security personnel to a place of their choice.

The army’s additional directorate-general of public information identified the four slain army men as Captain Brijesh Thapa, Naik D. Rajesh, Sepoy Bijendra and Sepoy Ajay.

A spokesman said they were killed “while undertaking a counter-terrorist operation in order to ensure peace in the region”.

Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi offered his deepest condolences.

Defence spokesman in Jammu Lt Col Suneel Bartwal said it was part of “proactive counter-terrorist operations” that were launched in Jammu recently in the light of recent (militancy-related) developments.

The officer said a joint operation with Jammu and Kashmir police was launched in Urarbaggi, 10km north of Doda, on Monday evening and contact with militants, hiding in a thickly forested and mountainous area with restricted visibility owing to low clouds and rain, was established around 8.40pm.

“In the initial volley of fire, four Indian Army personnel were injured, who later succumbed to their injuries,” the officer said.

Security forces rushed additional troops to the area and deployed drones and elite para-commandos to hunt down the militants who seemed to have disappeared into the forests. In most of the major attacks in the region in the last few years, the security forces have failed to nab the killers.

A source said a group of militants were recently seen crossing a stream in Doda during which they had also snatched the mobile phones of some locals. Somebody tipped off the soldiers and after days of planning, an operation was launched. However, it appears that the militants had deliberately leaked information about their presence to lure the soldiers.

The Opposition condemned the attack. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi lashed out at the government for “one after another attack” rocking Jammu and Kashmir, blaming them on the BJP’s wrong policies.

“It is the demand of every patriotic Indian that the government take full responsibility for the repeated security lapses and take strict action against the culprits who harm the country and the soldiers,” he said in a post on X in Hindi.

Jammu has emerged as a militancy hotbed since the scrapping of special status under Article 370 in 2019. The calm in the region had prompted the security forces to divert thousands of soldiers to China following its reported occupation of some territory there. This led to the thinning of forces, which Pakistan exploited. The forces have since re-strengthened the counter-insurgency grid.

In the first major attack in October 2021, militants killed nine soldiers, including two junior commissioned officers, in an operation that lasted for weeks.

The army has since lost 52 men, including officers, in several operations and attacks in the region. Militants started with two border districts of Rajouri and Poonch but gradually spread their tentacles to adjoining Udhampur, Reasi, Kathua, Doda, Kishtwar and Jammu districts.

They sent a chilling reminder of their presence shortly ahead of Modi’s June 9 swearing-in, killing nine Shiv Khori pilgrims and injuring dozens in an ambush in Reasi district. In all, militants have killed nine pilgrims and 10 security personnel in the last 38 days, making it the deadliest phase of violence and suggesting a deliberate attempt to undermine Modi’s muscular policies.

On June 13, Modi even asked the security forces to deploy the “full spectrum of anti-terrorism capabilities” against militants but the attacks have only grown in intensity.