NEW DELHI: Death of two elite Garud Commando during an encounter in Kashmir on Wednesday has once against exposed special commandos’ vulnerability, as they were shot in their first encounter in counter-insurgency operations. Involved Garud commandoes were first batch of Indian Air Force (IAF) commandos embedded with the Army for ‘live situational training’. This was second incident in which Garud suffered casualties. The first incident took place when terrorists attacked Pathankot airbase in January 2016 in which one Garud died.
The decision to impart ‘live situational training’ was taken in the aftermath of the terror attack on Pathankot Air Force station during which Garuds came under severe criticism. Six heavily armed terrorists from Pakistan attacked the Air Force station on the early hours of January 02, 2016 and seven security personnel lost their lives in the ensuing operation. Subsequently, in August this year two squads of Garuds with each squad consisting of one officer and 13 other ranks were embedded with Army. They had undergone a four week pre-induction training before being deployed for Counter Insurgency operations with 13 Rashtriya Rifles.
“Garuds were with the Army for live situational training. They came in August and this is the first batch. Idea to embedded Garud Commandoes was aimed to mould them into a well-knit fighting force capable of taking on terrorists,” said a defence official.
A Court of Inquiry into the Pathankot attack conducted by Air Vice-Marshal Amit Dev besides noticing serious lapses in the base security as well as the handling of the incident, it had also noted that had the terrorists been pinned down by IAF Garud commandoes, the lives of the five Defence Security Corps personnel could have been saved.
Sources privy to the development claim that the report also faulted Garud Commandoes for their failure in handling the situation and said that they were ill prepared for the task. In view of it, Government decided that Garuds would be deployed in counter-insurgency operations with the Army in Jammu and Kashmir to gain operational experience.
At present, the force has 1,000 Garuds and the IAF is now raising more squads with focus on anti-terror operations. Moreover, the IAF is implementing a Rs 8,000 crore plan to shore up the security of nearly 54 airbases all over the country post Pathankot attack.
The initial batches of Garuds after it came into being in 2003 were trained by the Special Forces of the Indian Army, Navy and National Security Guards(NSG). They are specially trained to be a Quick Reaction Force at important IAF bases and protect IAF high value assets.Garuds have been effectively employed in Indian missions in support of the UN and during extrication of Indian nationals from war zones.