A search party has recovered the bodies of two missing Special Police Officers (SPOs) from the Dherna Top area in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district.
Authorities identified the slain personnel as Rashpal Kumar, 40, and Babi Chand, 54, who vanished during a patrol in the remote Dachhan-Marwah belt.
Initial investigations reveal that terrorists laid an ambush in the region and opened fire while the two officers walked toward the Dherna post to relieve colleagues.
One officer sustained a fatal bullet wound to his head, while the other suffered a lethal gunshot injury to his back during the sudden attack.
The assailants also looted the service weapons belonging to the fallen officers, fleeing the scene with their INSAS and .303 rifles.
Preliminary reports indicate that both men accompanied an Army patrol and were heading toward the Dherna post when they lost contact with their unit.
Local sources heard gunshots in the area during the daytime, and both officers’ mobile phones soon switched off, sparking immediate concern among officials.
Police and security forces launched a massive search operation after the duo failed to return, eventually locating their bodies at Dherna Top this morning.
Joint security forces have now intensified their cordon-and-search operations across the dense forest belt to track down and neutralize the attackers responsible for the ambush.
Kishtwar remains a key focus for counter-insurgency drives, where successive military operations have eliminated several active militants and weakened terror networks in the remote hills.
This tragedy follows the October 16 killing of 55-year-old SPO Bashir Ahmed, whose relatives murdered him over a land dispute while he walked home in Kishtwar.
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