Terror related incidents, encounters marked 2023 in Rajouri

Rajouri, Jan 7: Terror incidents; encounters and recoveries of arms and ammunitions marked 2023 in border district Rajouri.

For the district, the year began with the Dhangri terror attack. District also witnessed two major encounters at Baaji Maal and Kesari Hill during 2023.

Eleven soldiers lost their lives while eight terrorists were eliminated in encounters. Seven civilians were killed and thirteen others were injured in a deadly terror attack in Dhangri village on January 1, last year.

Rajouri district is considered as one of the toughest districts on the anti-terror front due to its vast area spanning 2630 sq kms. It is broadly divided into six sub divisions viz., Rajouri; Thanamandi; Kotranka; Kalakote; Nowshera and Sunderbani. District shares boundaries with Shopian as well as Kulgam districts of South Kashmir from upper Pir-Panjal mountain ranges. It is connected to Bhimber, Kotli district of PoJK.

The 120 km long Line of Control in the district starts from Sunderbani Malla touching Akhnoor’s Keri and ends at Bhimber Gali, Kanga towards Poonch district.

Once considered as a hotbed of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, the Rajouri district witnessed a relatively calm situation during 2010 to 2020. 2010 had witnessed two incidents, one on August 12, when terrorists had fired on a civil passenger bus, between DKG and Thanamandi, in which a woman lost her life while seven people received injuries. On August 15 same year, security forces had claimed to have eliminated a terrorist, involved in that attack, in Rajdhani village.

Following it, no major terror incident was reported in the district for almost eight years except few encounters during and after infiltration attempts on Line of Control. One major encounter took place in Sunderbani town on March 28 in 2018 in which four freshly infiltrated terrorists were killed by forces in a gunfight near a BSF establishment in Sunderbani town.

Relative calm of ten years was broken by a number of terror incidents and encounters in 2023 which started on sad note as terrorists attacked houses of minority community in Dhangri village, eight kms from Rajouri headquarter, killing seven civilians in firing and IED blast and injuring thirteen others on January 1 and 2.

The twin-attacks shocked the entire country as it was the major attack on the civilian population in Jammu and Kashmir after a long period. Central government rushed eighteen additional companies of CRPF, exclusively for domination and security in minority population areas.

Other terror related incidents and encounters that happened in the border district in 2023 included an encounter at Kesari Hill, Kotranka on May 5 in which five paratroopers of the Indian army lost their lives while an officer was critically injured.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had also visited the district day after this encounter where he held a high-level review of security situation and operational aspects.

The district also witnessed an encounter on June 2 in Dassal village, two kilometers from Rajouri town, in which the army eliminated a terrorist, who was trapped during movement by troops.

The encounter spread a wave of panic among the local population as it was the first encounter after almost one and a half decade in the vicinity of Rajouri town, which is also the headquarters of the district.

It was followed by an encounter on LoC in Rumli Dhara, Nowshera in which army gunned down a terrorist during an infiltration attempt on July 10 while one terrorist was killed during an encounter in Gunda Khawas village of Rajouri on August 5.

On September 12, a fierce gunbattle broke out between security forces and terrorists in Narla Bambal village area of Kalakote sub division that lasted two days in which two terrorists were killed. An army jawan and a tracker dog of army also lost their lives during exchange of fire.

In November 2023, twin encounters took place in areas of the district; first one at Behrote Gali, Budhal on November 17 in which one terrorist was killed. Five army personnel, including four paratroopers (two officers), lost their lives and many were injured in an encounter that started on November 22 and lasted two days at Baaji Maal in Kalakote sub division. Two terrorists were also killed in this encounter, one of whom was identified by security forces as a commander with code name Qari who, they (forces) said, was also the mastermind behind the conspiracy of Dhangri attack.

The defence minister Rajnath Singh also visited the Rajouri district on December 27 and reviewed the security situation. This was his second visit during 2023 after he visited on May 6.

Senior army officers including Northern Army Commander and Director General of J&K Police also visited the district for over half a dozen times in 2023 to review the security situation, besides taking stock of operational progress.

The Union Home Minister Amit Shah was also scheduled to visit Rajouri on January 13 last year to meet family members of Dhangri terror attack victims. But his visit got cancelled at the last minute due to bad weather conditions. He spoke to the families over the telephone from Jammu.