Two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants killed during the 28-hour gunfight in Rajouri’s Kalakote were battle-hardened and specifically trained in jungle warfare and employed technology and well-acquired skill to manoeuvre in tough terrain to survive the mountain range of the Pir Panjal range, comprising Rajouri and Poonch districts, according to official sources.
The sources said Pakistani LeT commander ‘Qari’ and his associate’s training level once again indicated at militants getting trained in jungle warfare. Earlier, militants, especially in Kashmir, were more trained in urban warfare and engaged the security forces in built up areas mostly. However, the recent week-long operation in south Kashmir’s Kokernag in September this year indicated militants preparing for jungle warfare. Four security personnel were killed in the encounter in the forest cover of Gadole in Kokernag.
“The slain terrorists seem to have been trained in Afghanistan and other countries,” Lt. General Upendra Dwivedi, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command, said. He was speaking at the wreath laying ceremony of the five soldiers, including two Captains, who died in the Rajouri encounter on November 22-23.
Official sources said a major shift was observed in 2021 when nine major gunfights left three Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) and six soldiers dead in multiple attacks of the militants in the contiguous forest belt of the Poonch-Rajouri. This year, 18 security personnel and 24 militants were killed in multiple gunfights in the Jammu division, mainly in Poonch and Rajouri districts.
‘Major setback’
Lt. General Dwivedi described the killings of LeT terrorists as “a major dent and a setback to the terrorists and their ecosystem” in the Rajouri-Poonch belt. He suggested 20 to 25 terrorists might still be operating in the area and “will be traced soon”.
Lt. General Dwivedi visited the Kalakote area in Rajouri on Friday “to revise the operational situation”. He was briefed on the recently conducted operation, Army officials said.
Army sources said the Kalakote gunfight was a prolonged one and started around 8.30 a.m. on November 23 and ended with the killing of the second terrorist around 1.30 p.m. on November 24.
The Army said sensing danger to the lives of innocent women and children at the site where militants were holed up, an Army officer came out of his cover and pinned down the terrorists. “While saving the life of the residents, the officer was hit by a stray volley of fire and made the supreme sacrifice,” the Army said.
The LeT ‘commander’ took advantage of the thick undergrowth, large boulders and inhospitable terrain and made an attempt to break the contact. “Unmanned aerial vehicles, night-enabled cameras and other modern equipment were deployed to keep the area under surveillance through the night,” the Army said.
“A large amount of weapons, ammunition, and war-like stores have been recovered from these terrorists. It is estimated that they were planning to initiate terror-related activities to bring fear in the civilian population and cause unrest in the area,” Army officials said.
The Army continued to sanitise and search the area on Friday. Meanwhile, the Army dog, Domino, and his handler, Lance Naik Lucky Kumar, were awarded by Lt. Gen. Dwivedi for their role in tracking down a Pakistani terrorist in his hideout. “The dog helped the troops reach the hideout of terrorists by sniffing his blood trail in the Kalakote area after he had been injured in a gunfight,” the Army said.
