Two missing Special Police Officers found dead in Kishtwar district
The bodies of the two officers were recovered from the remote Dachhan belt with bullet wounds and missing service weapons.
The bullet-riddled bodies of two Special Police Officers (SPOs) were recovered from the Dachhan-Marwa area of Kishtwar district on Thursday morning, according to reports from The Federal and Telegraph India. The officers, identified as Rashpal Kumar and Babi Chand, had been missing since Wednesday while travelling from their camp in Kiyar village to an Army post at Dharna-Marwah.
The two men were members of the local police Special Operations Group (SOG). Officials noted that while their mobile phones were initially reachable, they were later switched off. A joint search operation involving the police, the Army, and the CRPF was launched to locate them in the mountainous forest terrain.
Preliminary investigations suggest the officers may have been ambushed by terrorists while on patrol. The service weapons, including INSAS and.303 rifles, were not found at the scene, leading officials to suspect the attackers took the weapons. Local sources also reported hearing gunshots in the area during the day.
The incident follows the death of another SPO, Bashir Ahmed, who was found dead near his home in Wanipora Trigam on October 16. In that case, police determined Ahmed had been murdered by relatives following a land dispute.
Security forces have since intensified joint operations to track the attackers in the remote, forested regions of Kishtwar. The district has seen various counter-insurgency operations aimed at reducing the presence of active terrorists.