One Inspector-rank CRPF officer was martyred on Monday when a heavily-armed group of Pakistani terrorists targeted an area domination patrol party comprising jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Special Operations Group of Jammu Kashmir Police (JKP) in the remote Duddu Basantgarh area of Udhampur.

The Monday attack, which occurred shortly after 3.00 pm in the thickly forested belt of Cheel in Duddu, comes close on the heels of the announcement of the poll schedule by the Election Commission for Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.

Till the time of filing the report, the operation in the area was going on and additional reinforcements were rushed from the district headquarters to prevent the Pakistani terrorists from escaping.  The joint team was carrying out a routine patrol when the attack from the Pakistani terrorists came. Official sources said an inspector of the CRPF belonging to the 187th Battalion was hit by a bullet and later succumbed to injuries while being taken to hospital.

The incident has once again brought into focus the lack of human intelligence and ground support enjoyed by the Pakistani terrorists through their well-entrenched network of overground workers in the area.

Confirming the attack on the joint patrol party, a spokesman of the Udhampur police posted a message on the microblogging site X claiming, “During area domination patrol..., exchange of fire took place between terrorists and joint parties of JKP and CRPF. In the encounter, one Inspector of CRPF suffered bullet injuries and has attained martyrdom. Operation continues”. Official sources claimed the same group of Pakistani terrorists has been shuttling in the thickly forested belt of Dudu Basantgarh for a long time and operations launched to neutralise them have not borne fruitful results.

Last week, a young captain of the Indian Army sacrificed his life, on the eve of the 78th Independence Day celebrations, while leading an ongoing anti-terrorist operation aimed at flushing out Pakistani terrorists hiding in the forested belt of Assar in the Doda district of Jammu.