A Brigade strength of around 3,000 Army troops along with 400-500 special forces personnel have been inducted into the Jammu area around a week ago, defence sources said on July 19. This is in addition to the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) that have been deployed.

“There has been augmentation of troop levels, both Army and considerable numbers of CAPFs, in the Jammu area recently,” officials in the know said.

On Monday, four Army personnel, including a Captain, and a Jammu and Kashmir policeman were killed in an encounter in the Doda area of Jammu, which came within a week after five soldiers were killed in Kathua. This is the latest in a series of terrorist-related violence in the last few months in Jammu and Kashmir, with activity particularly shifting to the Jammu region and has resulted in significant casualties among civilians and security forces.

The ‘Uniform force’ division of ten Rashtriya Rifles (RR) was moved to eastern Ladakh in the backdrop of the stand-off with China. This reduced the trip footprint at a time when terrorism was shifting from Kashmir towards Jammu. Each RR battalion typically has between 15,000 to 20,000 troops.

There have been a series of attacks recently with a distinct shift in terrorist violence to the south of Pir Panjal, reminiscent of the early 2000’s when this area was a hotbed of terrorism. Officials said foreign terrorists, after infiltration, were moving in the upper reaches of Udhampur, Doda, Kishtwar and Bhaderwah areas before entering the Kashmir Valley.

The terrain of Pir Panjal is extremely tough with altitude ranging from 3000 to 14,500 feet, mountainous and thickly wooded.

One the major reasons for the increased attrition on the part of the security forces is the lack of credible ground intelligence in the Jammu region south of Pir Panjal. Terrorists are using Chinese-made encrypted satellite phones which has made their interception difficult. “They can be decrypted via satellite and so remotely controlled. Their decryption is taking time,” a source stated.

Agencies