Paratrooper killed in Kishtwar operation
Special Forces Para Commandos of the Indian Army continue to pay a heavy price in the ongoing war against terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
The latest loss came on Monday when Havildar Gajendra Singh, a valiant soldier from Uttarakhand belonging to the elite Para Special Forces, succumbed to critical injuries at a military hospital in Udhampur.
In recent years, over one dozen elite para commandos have sacrificed their lives while participating in anti-terrorist operations in the region.
According to defence sources, Havildar Gajendra Singh received grievous injuries during a fierce anti-terror operation in the dense Singhpora forest area of Chhatroo, Kishtwar district.
The joint team of security forces launched Operation TRASHI-I on Sunday after specific intelligence about hiding terrorists.
In the ensuing ambush, terrorists lobbed a grenade and also opened indiscriminate firing, injuring eight soldiers with splinter wounds. Despite immediate evacuation to a military hospital in Udhampur, Havildar Gajendra Singh succumbed to his fatal injuries.
During the ongoing search operations going on in the area to track down the footprints of the Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists, the security forces also stumbled upon an underground hideout at an altitude of 12,000 feet in the Singhpora area of Chhatroo on Monday.
The terrorist hideout was equipped with abundant rations to last for several weeks.
Bags of Basmati rice, Wheat, cereals, spices, a gas stove, an LPG cylinder, desi ghee, a complete range of cooking and eating utensils, egg trays, packs of Maggi, blankets, figured in the long list of inventory prepared by the security forces.
On Monday, the Nagrota-based White Knight Corps paid glowing tributes to the fallen hero in an official statement on X (formerly Twitter).
“The General Officer Commanding, White Knight Corps and all ranks pay solemn tribute to Havildar Gajendra Singh of the Special Forces, who made the supreme sacrifice while gallantly executing a counter terrorism operation in the Singhpora area during the ongoing operation TRASHI-I. “We honour his indomitable courage, valour and selfless devotion to duty and stand firmly with the bereaved family in this hour of profound grief,” the army said in a post on X.
In October 2025, two soldiers from the Indian Army’s elite 5 PARA unit, Lance Havildar Palash Ghosh and Lance Naik Sujay Ghosh, tragically died in the dense forests of Kokernag, Anantnag, during an anti-terror operation due to severe snowstorms and hypothermia.
On April 24, 2025, an elite Para Commando, Jhantu Ali Shaikh of 6 Para SF, was ‘Killed in action’ in an encounter with terrorists in the Dudu-Basantgarh area of Udhampur.
On 10 November 2024, an elite para commando of the Indian army, Naib Subedar Rakesh Kumar of 2 Para, sacrificed his life in the line of duty in the counter-terrorist operation launched in the general area of Bhart Ridge, Kishtwar, to flush out terrorists behind the killing of two members of the village defence groups.
Earlier, on May 5, 2023, five elite commandos of Para Special forces were ‘killed in action’ by a group of heavily armed terrorists, possibly trained in guerrilla warfare, in the thickly forested belt of Kotranka in the frontier district of Rajouri.
A group of five Para commandos were ‘Killed in action’ in the Keran sector of Kupwara on April 5, 2020, while foiling a major infiltration bid. Five terrorists were neutralised in the hand-to-hand combat by the elite commandos.
Similarly, on 22 February 2016, two officers of the Para Unit, along with one para commando, sacrificed their lives while neutralising holed-up terrorists inside the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) in Pampore.
On ground zero, a joint team of security forces supported by drones and sniffer dogs are combing the area while maintaining a tight security cordon to ensure that the terrorists are not able to escape.
In a post on X, White Knight Corps stated,” Operations under Operation Trashi-I continue in the general area of Son Nar, northeast of Chhatru. The cordon has been further tightened with search operations expanded. Troops of White Knight Corps, along with Jammu and Kashmir police and CRPF, remain deployed to dominate the area”.
