Two Special Police Officers who went missing during patrol in J&K’s Kishtwar found dead

Two Special Police Officers (SPOs) of Jammu and Kashmir Police, who had gone missing with their weapons from the Dachhan area of Kishtwar district on November 11, were found dead on Thursday, officials said.They were identified as Rashpal Kumar, 45 and Babbi Chand, 57, both residents of Kiyar Dachhan.Locals reported hearing a few gunshots in the forested stretch between Kiyar and Dherana shortly before the two policemen went out of contact, prompting police and security forces to launch a joint search operation in the rugged terrain.The two SPOs were on their way to Dherana to join duty at a temporary base of 17 Rashtriya Rifles in Marwah.

They did not make it to the base."The bodies have been found but weapons are missing," said an official, who declined to be named.Successive counter-insurgency operations have resulted in the killing of several active terrorists, significantly weakening their presence in the district. Nevertheless, the difficult terrain and vast forested stretches continue to pose operational challenges for security agencies, the officials said.Repeated calls and text messages to inspector general (IG) (Jammu) Tejinder Singh, deputy inspector general (DIG) (Doda-Kishtwar-Ramban range) Sargun Shukla, and Kishtwar senior superintendent of police Sunny Gupta seeking their comments went unanswered