SRINAGAR: After the peaceful first few months of this year, there has been a sudden surge in militant violence in Jammu and Kashmir. In the month of July, eight encounters, three attacks including an attack by notorious BAT team on security forces and three infiltration attempts took place in J&K. Around 14 security men and 13 militants were killed in action.
July saw fierce gunfights between militants and security forces both in Kashmir and Jammu. Eight gunfights took place in the month of July. Three of the gunfights took place in Valley while four took place in Jammu region, three of them alone in mountainous Doda district.
After the series of gunfights in Doda forest area, security forces have launched a massive combing and search operation in the dense forest areas to track down the group of 10-12 militants, who are split in groups of 2-3.
In the month of July, there were three major attacks – one in Madeshi forest area of Kathua district in which five soldiers were killed. The another militant attack took place on the house of Shaura chakra awardee VDC member Purshottam Kumar in a remote village of Rajouri. In the militant attack, a soldier and a relative of the VDC member were injured. Militants managed to escape.
The third attack was carried on an Indian army post near Line of Control (LoC) in Machil sector of north Kashmir by the notorious BAT team. The BAT team comprises the Pakistani commandos and highly trained militants. In the BAT attack, a soldier and a Pakistani intruder were killed.
Three infiltration attempts by militants took place during the month. Two of those attempts took place in the Keran sector of north Kashmir while another infiltration attempt took place in Poonch sector of Jammu. All the three infiltration bids were foiled by troops.
According to the data, in the encounters, attacks and gunfights while foiling infiltration attempts, 14 army men were killed. Among the killed soldiers were a Captain and Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO). Of the 14 casualties among the army, 10 died in militancy violence in Jammu region and four in Valley. Thirteen militants were also killed in the gunfights with security forces. All of them were killed in hinterland and at the LoC.