Jammu and Kashmir DGP R R Swain flew to Kathua district on Tuesday to review the ongoing operation to track down and neutralise the terrorists behind the deadly ambush on an Army patrolling party that left five soldiers dead and an equal number injured on Monday, officials said.
Accompanied by ADGP (Law and Order) Vijay Kumar and ADGP Jammu zone Anand Jain, Swain held a meeting with the police and Army officers on the ground, the officials said.
Meanwhile, President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday termed the terrorist attack on an Army convoy a "cowardly act" and said it deserved condemnation and firm counter-measures.
In a post on X, Murmu said, "My sympathies are with the families of the bravehearts who laid down their lives in this ongoing war against terror in its all forms. I pray for the speedy recovery of those injured."
"The attack on a convoy of Army personnel in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir by terrorists is a cowardly act that deserves condemnation and firm counter-measures. My sympathies are with the families of the bravehearts who laid down their lives in this ongoing war against terror in its all forms. I pray for the speedy recovery of those injured," the President said.
Monday's terror attack on the Army patrolling party was the first such incident on the rugged Machedi-Kindli-Malhar mountainous road near Badnota village in Lohai Malhar, approximately 150 km from the Kathua district's headquarters.
Five Army personnel lost their lives and an equal number were injured when heavily armed terrorists hurled a grenade and opened indiscriminate firing on two Army vehicles at around 3.30 pm.
The terrorists fled into the nearby forest after the attack.
The search for the terrorists, which started on Monday itself and was suspended late in the evening owing to heavy rains, resumed on Tuesday morning with joint search parties of the Army, police and CRPF, officials said.
They said the Army's elite para-commandos and sniffer dogs joined the search operation, while drones and helicopters were also pressed into service for surveillance.
This terror attack was the fifth in the Jammu region in a month.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)
