Army officer dies after falling into gorge during anti-militancy operation in J&K’s Rajouri

3 min readJammuJun 6, 2026 09:41 PM IST

A senior Army officer, however, said the searches would continue until the militants are tracked down and killed. (File Photo)

An Army officer died after falling into a gorge during a massive search operation for militants in the dense forests of Rajouri district Saturday afternoon.

Officials said the deceased, a lieutenant in the Assam Rifles, was part of the search teams. He was evacuated to a hospital but died, they said.

The searches are part of Operation Sheruwali, a fortnight-long exercise in the Ghambir Mughan and Dorimal forests of Manjakote after intelligence inputs indicated the presence of militants. The operation involves the Army, J&K Police and the CRPF, assisted by sniffer dogs, drones and helicopters.

The exercise began on May 22, with troops having a brief exchange of fire with militants the next day. There has been no further contact since.

A senior Army officer, however, said the searches would continue until the militants are tracked down and killed.

Officials suspect the militants, believed to be five in number and split into two groups, moved to the lower reaches of the Pir Panjal to escape relentless search operations by the counter-insurgency Romeo Force in the Sukhsar and Lalansar forests adjoining the Kashmir Valley over the past three months.

The militants have been operating in the forests between the Rajouri-BG-Surankote road (NH-144A) and the Rajouri-Thanamandi-DKG-Buffliaz road for the past two-three years. One group is suspected to be hiding in forests in Rajouri and the other in Surankote in Poonch district.

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To assess the evolving security situation in the Jammu region, Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Pratik Sharma on Thursday visited the BSF Jammu Frontier headquarters at Paloura to chair a joint meeting of security agencies.

Though the GOC-in-C of Northern Command has regularly held joint meetings of security agencies, officials said it was the first time in the recent past that he visited the BSF headquarters to chair a Joint Control Centres (JCC) meeting.

Senior representatives of security and intelligence agencies attended the meeting, which reviewed the overall security situation and discussed measures to enhance operational preparedness.

During the interaction, the Northern Army Commander stressed seamless inter-agency coordination, timely intelligence sharing and integrated response mechanisms to counter emerging threats. He also underscored the need for sustained vigilance, proactive information exchange and coordinated action, officials said.