SRINAGAR: A day after five army personnel, mostly para commandos, were killed in an ongoing combat operation in the Kandi forest of Rajouri, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh took stock of the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir’s border districts of Rajouri and Poonch.
Defence Minister landed at Jammu’s technical Airport in a special aircraft, from where he was accompanied by Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, Army Chief General Manoj Pande and Army Commander Northern Command Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi towards Rajouri.
The Defence Minister took stock of the operational preparedness of the Indian Army and the security situation along the border area during his visit and also interacted with troops at an Army Base Camp in Rajouri.
As per an official, the defence minister chaired a high-level security meeting to review the overall security scenario of JK. During interaction with soldiers, the defence minister commended their valour and zeal while operating in challenging situations and asserted that the nation feels secure because of the unmatched courage, commitment and constant vigil of the soldiers of the Indian Army.
Earlier in the day, the army had neutralized one militant, while another was reported to have been injured in an ongoing gun battle at the Kandi forests of Rajouri.
“In the ongoing joint operation in Kandi Forest, Rajouri sector by Indian Army in coordination with JKP & CRPF, at approx 0700 hours the cordon while closing in spotted and pinned down the terrorists. In the ensuing gunbattle, One militant has been neutralised and other is likely injured,” PRO Defence Lieutenant Colonel Devender Anand said.
A statement from the Army’s Northern Command said its personnel have been conducting “relentless intelligence-based operations to flush out a group of militants involved in an ambush on an Army truck in the Tota Gali area of Bhata Dhurian in Jammu region last month”—(KNO)
