The body of one of the two missing soldiers of the Indian Army’s Special Forces was recovered on Thursday afternoon in the upper reaches of Kokernag in South Kashmir. Two soldiers had gone missing after a snowstorm on Monday in the dense Gadol forests of Kokernag, where they were engaged in a search operation.
Security forces have intensified the search operation to trace the other soldier from the 5 Para (Special Forces) unit who went missing after a snowstorm on the intervening night of 6-7 October.
Sources said that the body of one paratrooper with his rucksack and weapon has been recovered. His death was apparently due to an avalanche or a snowstorm during the anti-terror operation.
Hundreds of Army troops, CRPF, and J&K Police personnel, assisted by sniffer dogs, are engaged in the search operations.
The Army has also pressed helicopters and drones into service to trace the missing commandos who were missing in the dense forest area with difficult terrain that connects south Kashmir with the Kishtwar and Doda districts of the Jammu region.
The Chinar Corps of the Indian Army wrote on X, “On the intervening night of 6/7 Oct an operational team on Kishtwar range confronted a severe snow storm and whiteout conditions in the mountains of South Kashmir. Since then, two soldiers have gone out of communication. Intense Search and Rescue operations have been launched but hampered due to prevailing adverse weather conditions”.
It is learnt that the missing soldiers, identified as Agniveer Commandos from the 5 Para (Special Forces) unit, were conducting an anti-terror patrol in the Gadol forest of Kokernag, Anantnag district, when contact was lost on 6 October. “Repeated attempts to contact them on their handsets and track their movement through GPS have remained unsuccessful,” sources added.
The Gadol forest area witnessed one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in September 2023, which resulted in the death of Colonel Manpreet Singh, Commanding Officer, 19 Rashtriya Rifles; Major Ashish Dhonchak; Deputy Superintendent of J&K Police Humayun Bhat; and Army soldier Pradeep Kumar.
Meanwhile, search operations have also been launched at Dharni top, Basantgarh, Udhampur, after suspicious movement of 3 terrorists was observed by the locals.
Inspector General (IG) BSF Kashmir Frontier, Ashok Yadav, said that around 100 to 120 terrorists are currently stationed at the launch-pads across the Line of Control (LoC) and may attempt infiltration before winter sets in.
Security along the LoC in Kashmir remains tight, with constant monitoring and countermeasures in place to prevent any infiltration attempts by terrorists, he said.
The IG BSF said troops are maintaining high alert and are equipped with modern surveillance systems to detect and neutralise any infiltration attempts.