People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), a terror organisation established by Jaish-e-Mohammed in 2020, has claimed responsibility for the killing of five Indian Army troops during an explosion at an encounter between terrorists and security forces at Rajouri of Jammu and Kashmir.
In a statement released by the spokesperson of the outfit, Tanveer Ahmad Rather has warned of more such attacks in the future as well.
Terrorists detonated an explosive device during an encounter that broke out with the security forces on Friday morning in the Kandi region of Rajouri district, Jammu and Kashmir, killing five Army soldiers and injuring four others, including an officer. Following the incident at the Kesari area of Kandi hamlet, mobile internet services were suspended in Rajouri.
According to army officials, terrorists belong to the same group that ambushed an army truck in Poonch on April 20 in which at least five jawans of Rashtriya Rifles lost their lives and one more was injured.
“During the joint operation, in the Kandi Forest in the Rajouri, the terrorists triggered an explosive device in retaliation. The Army team has suffered two fatal casualties with injuries to four more soldiers including an officer,” a statement released by Army PRO Lt Colonel Devender Anand read. Three more soldiers succumbed to the injuries later.
“Indian Army columns have been conducting relentless intelligence-based operations to flush out a group of terrorists involved in an ambush on an Army truck in the Tota Gali area of Bhata Dhurian in Jammu region,” it continued.
“On specific information about the presence of terrorists in the Kandi Forest in the Rajouri Sector, a joint operation was launched on May 3. Around 7.30 am on Friday, a search team established contact with a group of terrorists well entrenched in a cave. The area is thickly vegetated with rocky and steep cliffs,” it added.
“The injured personnel have been evacuated to Command Hospital, Udhampur. As per initial reports, a group of terrorists are trapped in the area. There is a likelihood of casualties in terrorist groups. The operation is in progress. Further details are being ascertained,” Army informed.
The confrontation commenced when the combined teams of forces approached the area and were fired upon by the terrorists who were hiding there.
Terrorist activity has been frequently recorded in the vicinity. The police and security forces had established contact with two terrorists in the Kesari Top region a few days after the attack that resulted in the deaths of four soldiers at an Army camp at Pargal in the Budhal region in August of last year. The terrorists, however, had managed to get away by taking advantage of the thick forests.
Two terrorists were eliminated earlier on Thursday in an encounter in Baramulla, Jammu & Kashmir. The altercation erupted in the Wanigam Payeen Kreeri neighbourhood of the area.
Similarly, a confrontation in the Kupwara district on Wednesday resulted in the deaths of two militants. The confrontation reportedly occurred close to the Pichnad Machil region.