Bodies of two missing special police officers found in Kishtwar forest
The bullet-riddled bodies of Rashpal Kumar and Bobby Chand were recovered in the Dachan forest area after they went missing on Wednesday.
The bullet-riddled bodies of two Special Police Officers (SPOs) were recovered in the Dachan forest area of Kishtwar district on Thursday morning, according to reports by India Today, The Pioneer and The Indian Express. The personnel, identified as Rashpal Kumar, 45, and Bobby Chand, 57, went missing on Wednesday afternoon after gunfire was heard in the Deharna forest area of Marwah.
The two SPOs, who were part of the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s Special Operations Group (SOG), were travelling from Kiyar Dachhan to Basnan in the Inderwan area to relieve a team of the Army's 17 Rashtriya Rifles. One body was found around 8 am and the second around 9 am on Thursday. One officer was hit in the head and the other sustained a bullet injury in the neck.
Official sources stated that the service weapons of the personnel, including an INSAS rifle and a.303 rifle, were missing from the scene. Authorities have not ruled out a terror angle, with sources suggesting the missing weapons point towards the involvement of such groups. A massive search operation has been launched to track down the assailants.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah expressed profound grief and anguish over the killings, condemning the act as cowardly. BJP MLA Shagun Parihar termed the incident tragic and blamed Pakistan for the killings, while Leader of the Opposition Sunil Sharma alleged the SPOs were kidnapped by terrorists.
In a separate incident on Wednesday, attackers used metal-jacketed armour-piercing bullets to target a CRPF checkpoint in Kulgam, leaving one jawan critically injured. Security agencies have stepped up efforts to track the attackers, who are suspected to be linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror network.