Security forces, led by the Indian Army, continued to fire mortars and rockets in Anantnag on Sunday, hoping to smoke out a small group of suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants holed up in a hill in a densely forested area. As the anti-militancy operation entered the fifth day, it suggests that it is part of a possible strategy shift adopted by “highly-trained militants” in Kashmir this year, moving from urban militancy to jungle warfare.
Official sources said that the security forces pounded multiple locations on Gadool hill in Anantnag’s Kokernag area. A hideout set up inside a natural cave in the middle of the alpine forest range, with one small entry point, was completely damaged by mortal shells and rockets. Dozens of mortars and rockets have been fired over the past four days, in what is becoming one of the longest operations in Kashmir in many years.
‘Well trained militants’
Drones kept hovering over the hill, which has steep slopes, forest cover and tough terrain. The police suspect that two to three LeT militants, including a local recruit, are holed up in the hill and have taken a position in the dense forest area. These militants have killed three officers and injured two soldiers in the past five days. One soldier is also reportedly missing at the encounter site.
A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan was injured on Sunday when he opened fire accidentally and sustained wounds in his foot. The jawan was part of the road opening party in the Kokernag area.
The police have not retrieved any bodies of militants who may be hiding at the encounter site so far. Police officials told The Hindu that the militants in the Gadool hill “came across as well trained compared to those killed in Kashmir earlier this year”.
Strategy shift
Over 50 militants, mostly foreigners, were killed in Jammu and Kashmir this year, as security forces have managed to hold the upper hand against militants in urban centres across the Valley. However, the Gadool operation is a departure from previous anti-militancy operations in the Valley this year, where most militants were killed in built-up areas.
The strategy adopted by militants in Anantnag has a stark resemblance to earlier encounters in the Pir Panjal Valley, which comprises Poonch and Rajouri districts. Ten soldiers were killed in dense forest areas this year, including five on May 5 in Rajouri, and five in Poonch district on April 20. Around 30 soldiers have died in more than five militant attacks, mostly in jungles, since October 2021 in the Rajouri-Poonch range.
