Terror continues to rear its ugly head in Jammu and Kashmir. A gunfight broke out between heavily armed terrorists and army personnel in the Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, leading to the death of four personnel, including an officer.
News agency PTI reported that a Captain-ranked official succumbed to his injuries in the second major encounter in Jammu region after five soldiers were killed in action in Kathua last week.
The shadow group of Pakistan-backed terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), known as the Kashmir Tigers, has taken responsibility for the attack.
But what is the Kashmir Tigers group and how have they emerged as the dominant force in terror activities in the region.
All about Kashmir Tigers
The Kashmir Tigers, according to authorities, is believed to be a front organisation of the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). Security personnel claim that they emerged in Jammu and Kashmir shortly after the revocation of special status to Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019.
They further added that unlike other terror groups such as JeM, Allah Tigers and Hizbul Mujahideen which carry names that are distinctly Islamic, this group, along with others have names with no connection to religion.
According to one police official, who was quoted as telling The Diplomat, “the so-called new groups, are just front outfits of the LeT and JeM.” “Their secularisation,” he said, is with regard “to their name only” and is aimed at giving them an image that is more political than religious.”
He added in the same report as saying that groups such as the Kashmir Tigers were set up in the post-2019 situation in Kashmir “to show that these had emerged out of local anger with the Indian state”. This was “to make their violence more palatable to western rights activists.”
Rise in Kashmir Tiger attacks
In December 2021, this small relatively unknown group became big headlines after it claimed responsibility for an attack on a police bus in the highly fortified neighbourhood of Srinagar. Two policemen were killed and 14 others were injured in what was later reported as the first major attack on security forces in the Valley since the abrogation of J&K’s special status in August 2019.
Speaking on the attack, the police had then said that the terrorists had fired indiscriminately on a police bus of the 9th Battalion of J-K Police’s armed wing at Zewan on the outskirts of Srinagar city. It left 16 police personnel injured. They were immediately shifted to the Army’s 92 Base Hospital at Badamibagh where two policemen died.
Since then, they have been responsible for several of the attacks that have taken place in the Union Territory, especially in recent times.
On June 12, the same group claimed responsibility for the attack at the Army’s Temporary Operating Base (TOB) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda. The incident left five Army soldiers and one special police official injured.
The attack unfolded at a joint checkpoint of the police and Rashtriya Rifles at an Indian Army base in Chattargala area, bordering the Sarthal area of the Kathua district. According to an Indian Express report, the terrorists also hurled a grenade at the checkpoint, causing injuries to the security personnel.
This was followed up by the July 9 attack by the Kashmir Tigers in the remote Machedi area of Jammu and Kashmir’s
Kathua district. Terrorists belonging to the group attacked a military convoy, who was on a routine patrol on the Machedi-Kindli-Malhar road around 3.30 pm. Officials said that after the initial attack, the terrorists lobbed a grenade and then opened fire, forcing the ultras to flee into the nearby forest.
Reinforcements were rushed in and a search op was launched to track them down.
The ambush led to the death of five Army personnel, including a Junior Commissioned Officer, and injury to five other personnel. The injured were shifted to a hospital for treatment.
And on Tuesday (July 16), four Army personnel died after a
gunfight with terrorists belonging to Kashmir Tigers in Doda district. Those killed in the encounter have been identified as Captain Brijesh Thapa, Naik D Rajesh, Sepoy Bijendra and Sepoy Ajay.
The fatalities come as troops of Rashtriya Rifles and Special Operations Group of Jammu and Kashmir Police launched a joint cordon and search operation at Dhari Gote Urarbagi in the Desa forest belt, some 55 km from Doda town, late on Monday evening resulting in an encounter.
After a brief exchange of fire, the terrorists tried to escape but were chased by the troops led by an officer despite the challenging terrain and thick foliage, they said, adding this led to another firefight around 9 pm on Monday.
The Army’s 16 Corps, also known as White Knight Corps, on X said, “Based on specific intelligence inputs, a joint operation by Indian Army and JKP was in progress in the general area North of Doda. Contact with terrorists was established tonight about 2100 hrs in which heavy firefight ensued.
“Initial reports suggest injuries to our bravehearts. Additional troops have been moved into the area. Operations are continuing,” it said late on Monday night.
Rise in Jammu attacks
The relatively peaceful
Jammu region has been seeing a rise in terror attacks over the past month. According to news agency, PTI, over 70 people, including 52 security personnel — mostly from the Army — have been killed in terror-related incidents in the Jammu region since 2021. Most of the casualties were from Rajouri and Poonch districts where 54 terrorists were also eliminated, the officials said.
Officials are of the opinion that revival of old infiltration routes, thinned deployment of forces in the region, highly trained terrorists, and a dried up human and technical intelligence network are the reasons why Jammu is seeing a surge in attacks.
One source in the security establishment told The Print that the spate of attacks in Jammu is a “tactical and strategic shift” by the terror groups to safeguard their assets in Kashmir.
With inputs from agencies
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