Several persons were detained for questioning on Sunday as the Indian Army launched massive search operations in the Surankot Sector of the Poonch district where a soldier of the Indian Airforce (IAF) was killed and five others injured in an ambush by Pakistan backed terrorists on Saturday evening.

The IAF has identified the martyred soldiers as Corporal Vikky Pahade and the Chief of Air Staff Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari. IAF personnel conveyed their condolences to the bereaved families.

Top officers of the White Knight Corps of the Army, IAF and Additional Director General of Police (Jammu Range) Anand Jain took stock of the incident that was the third of its kind that took place in a fortnight in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch.

Drones, sniffer dogs and other gadgetry have been deployed to trace the terrorists.

The modus operandi of the ambush was similar to those employed by the terrorists in April and December last year in which five and four Army soldiers were killed respectively at Bhatta Durian in Poonch and Rajouri sectors.

A commanding officer of the Rashtriya Rifles (RR) and soldiers travelling in a convoy in January this year had a miraculous escape when they came under the attack of terrorists in the Daradhullian Khwadia area of Poonch.

In a targeted attack a few days ago, , terrorists killed a government official near the Shahdara Shrine in Rajouri and thereafter a Village Defence Group (VDG) activist. However, it has become a difficult task for the security forces to track down the highly trained terrorists involved in attacking Army convoys in Rajouri and Poonch.

The terrorists disappear immediately after indulging in these attacks and become untraceable by the time reinforcements reach the spot.

Massive cordon and search operations have been launched since last evening in many areas including Shahsitar, Gursai, Sanai and Sheendara and teams of Army’s Para Commandos were also engaged in the operation.

However, there has been no contact with the terrorists so far. The search operation, which started on Sunday morning to trace the terrorists, is being supervised by senior Army and police officers, including the GOC of the Army Division, DIG and SSP of the J&K Police.

The terror attack has come days ahead of polling in the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency. Poonch is part of Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency which goes to polls in the sixth phase on May 25. Polling for the seat was earlier scheduled to be held on 7 May, but the election commission postponed it.

It is worth mentioning that having remained peaceful for almost 20 years, terror strikes reappeared in the Rajouri and Poonch districts since 2023.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh wrote on X that the terror attack in the Surankote Sector “is part of a worrying trend of terror attacks, particularly against security personnel, in the hilly Rajouri-Poonch areas situated near the Line of Control’. It is a matter of grave concern that since January 1 2023, 25 of our brave security personnel and eight innocent civilians have lost their lives in the Rajouri-Poonch area. In contrast, there were no major incidents of terrorism in this area between 2007 and 2014.”