The Indian Army Sunday launched a massive combing and search operation after inducting elite para commandos along with local military units of the Rashtriya Rifles (RR) to avenge the killing of an Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel, who sacrificed his life in the terror attack near Shahsitar in the Surankote area of Poonch district on Saturday.
Senior army officers along with Additional Director General of Police, Jammu, Anand Jain visited the ambush spot in the Surankote area to review the ongoing anti-terrorist operations.
A separate meeting was also attended by the senior officers ahead of launching a "hot pursuit" aimed at flushing out foreign terrorists hiding inside natural caves and "safe hideouts".
The security forces have also detained several residents to ascertain the whereabouts of these foreign terrorists hiding in the area. Meanwhile, the deceased IAF personnel has been identified as Corporal Vikky Pahade. A resident of Nonia-Karbal village, Corporal Pahade hailed from Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara district. He was supposed to return home to celebrate his son's birthday on Tuesday. According to the family members, Pahade had visited his family last month to attend his sister's wedding and had joined the unit on April 18.
Four other injured IAF personnel were undergoing treatment at a command hospital in Udhampur.
"The CAS Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari and all personnel of (the) Indian Air Force salute the braveheart Corporal Vikky Pahade, who made the supreme sacrifice in (the) Poonch Sector, in the service of the nation. Our deepest condolences to the bereaved family. We stand firmly by your side in this hour of grief," read a post on the official X handle of the Indian Air Force
According to ground reports, the Indian Army conducted aerial surveillance using a helicopter to maintain a tight vigil on the movement of any suspected personnel in the forest area. Additional troops were rushed to the ambush site to plug the possible escape routes. In addition, a general alert was sounded in the area and random checking of vehicles and suspected personnel was conducted to instill a sense of security among the frightened residents.
Since late Saturday evening, the security forces have been tracking the footprints of the terrorists behind the attack.
The officials said checking of vehicles has been intensified across the district which is going to polls in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha election on May 25. Poonch is part of the Anantnag-Rajouri Parliamentary constituency.
Local reports indicated the terrorists vanished soon after the attack without facing any tough resistance. The nearest habitation was located less than 1 km from the area where the attack took place enroute Sanai Top.
The security forces suspected local over-ground workers, active in the area may have extended logistic support to these foreign terrorists besides providing them safe shelter and other help to execute their terror plot at the behest of their handlers sitting across Pakistan. So far the local police have failed to generate any human intelligence to expose the safe hideouts across the vulnerable rural pockets across these frontier districts of Rajouri and Poonch.
According to official sources, between October 2021 and May 4, 2024, the Indian Army suffered huge collateral damage in these ambushes orchestrated in the areas South of Pir Panjal to spread the "arc of terror" across the Jammu region.
The standoff between the Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh also impacted the security scenario with the shifting of a large number of troops to beef up Indian defenses in the cold desert region.
Statistics revealed a total number of 35 Army personnel were "killed in action" in different targeted strikes across Jammu and Kashmir during the same period. In contrast, only five terrorists were neutralized in these operations.
Preliminary reports suggested that foreign terrorists adopted the same modus operandi in these "audacious" strikes.
They first conducted a recce of the entire area including its topography, pattern of civilian movement, and likely schedule of convoy movement with the help of a local guide or any over-ground worker. Secondly, they stayed near the ambush site to avoid getting on the radar of the security forces while running away after executing the terror plot. In all these terror attacks that have taken place in the middle of the road, foreign terrorists used similar ammunition and automatic rifles to inflict fatal injuries. Initially, the terrorists also recorded videos and circulated the same on various social media platforms to run propaganda targeting the Indian armed forces.
