Four Indian soldiers were killed and three others were injured after suspected rebels ambushed Indian military vehicles in the southernmost border district of Rajouri in Indian Kashmir, officials said on Friday.
An Indian army official told that the attack took place on Thursday afternoon when two army vehicles – a mini truck and a gypsy – carrying nine soldiers moved to the site of a search operation to find suspected rebels in Rajouri. .
In a statement on Thursday night, the Indian Army said its “troops immediately retaliated”.
After the attack, Indian forces launched a massive operation in the area to nab the attackers, who are believed to be hiding in the forest. The surrounding areas were also closed to traffic. However, the army has not yet reported any casualties among the armed rebels.
Rajouri and Poonch districts are hilly areas near the Line of Control (LoC), the demarcation line between the Indian and Pakistani administered parts of Kashmir.
An armed insurgency in Kashmir, fully claimed by both India and Pakistan but partially controlled by both neighbors, has continued since the 1990s against Indian rule. India accuses Pakistan of funding and arming the insurgency.
For decades, New Delhi has tried to completely suppress anti-India sentiment in Kashmir.
In August 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped the region of its semi-autonomous status, guaranteed by the Indian constitution when the former king of Kashmir joined the Indian Union in 1948. Earlier this week, India’s Supreme Court upheld the Modi government’s decision. India also split what was a full-fledged state into two federally administered territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
While the Kashmir region has been a hotbed of dissent for decades, districts such as Rajouri and Poonch in the Jammu region have seen an increase in insurgent attacks against Indian troops since 2021, and 2023 has been particularly deadly for Indian troops.
A total of 34 Indian soldiers have been killed in Kashmir since 2021, since April 19.
The attacks, including the latest, have been claimed by a little-known insurgent group, the Popular Anti-Fascist Front, which officials have said is a proxy for the Pakistani militant group Jaish-e-Muhammad.
The renewed attacks, observers say, have become a new challenge for the Delhi government, which says its controversial policies have improved the security situation in the region.
In November, five soldiers, including two army captains, were killed in an operation in the same district at Kalakote in Rajouri. In September, four army personnel were killed in an armed encounter in Kokernag forest near Anantnag district. In April and May this year, 10 soldiers were killed in two districts.
