Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday expressed anguish after four army personnel, including an officer, were martyred in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district, and slammed the BJP government over the spate of terror attacks in the Union territory.

In a post on ‘X’, the Congress chief wrote, “Deeply distressed by the martyrdom of four brave Army soldiers, including an officer, in a terror encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda. Our heart goes out to the families of our bravehearts, who made the supreme sacrifice in the service of Bharat Mata. Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured, and we hope for a speedy and complete recovery.”

Stating that no words of strong and unequivocal condemnation will suffice for these acts of violence being perpetrated by cowardly terrorists, he said, “The spate of terror attacks that has gripped Jammu and Kashmir in the past 36 days, needs careful recalibration in our security strategy.”

Attacking the ruling dispensation, the Congress president said, “The Modi government is acting as if everything is ‘business as usual’ and nothing has changed. They must know that increasingly the Jammu region is bearing the brunt of these attacks. We cannot endanger our national security by indulging in false bravado, fake narratives and high-decibel whitewashing.”

Kharge, who is also the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, said, “As a nation, we have to collectively fight the scourge of cross-border terrorism. The Indian National Congress stands strongly with our valiant Armed Forces.”

Echoing similar sentiments, Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said, “Today, our soldiers were martyred in a terrorist encounter in Jammu and Kashmir. I express my deepest condolences to the bereaved families. Such terrible incidents one after another are extremely sad and worrying.”

Taking a jibe at the BJP government, he said, “These continuous terrorist attacks are revealing the dilapidated condition of Jammu and Kashmir. Our soldiers and their families are suffering the consequences of BJP’s wrong policies.”

“It is the demand of every patriotic Indian that the government should take full responsibility for the repeated security lapses and take strictest action against the culprits of the country and its soldiers. In this hour of grief, the entire country stands united against terrorism,” Gandhi wrote on X.