Both had gone missing while going towards an army post.
Jammu. The bodies of two special police officers (SPOs), missing from Dachchan, a remote area of Kishtwar district in Jammu and Kashmir, were recovered early Thursday with bullet marks on their bodies. The officers provided this information. Officials said that government weapons of policemen have not been found, which has deepened the suspicion of possible terrorist involvement in the incident.
The deceased have been identified as Babi Chand (57) and Rashpal Kumar (45). Both of them were posted with the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the local police in Kiyar village of Dachhan and had gone missing on Wednesday while going from their camp towards an army post at Dharna-Marwah. Initially contact was being made on his mobile phone, but later it was 'switched off'. This increased the concern of security agencies and a large-scale search operation was launched.
Security forces rushed additional troops to the spot and intensified search operations in the upper forest areas of Dachhan by deploying special teams equipped with drones and sniffer dogs. Large areas around Kiyar and the road leading to Dharna-Marwah were also covered under the operation where inaccessible forest areas were monitored through drones, while sniffer dogs helped the ground team in detecting suspicious activities.
Efforts continue to eliminate terrorists from forest areas
An official said, a massive operation is being conducted to identify and kill the attackers. Kishtwar, located about 200 km from Jammu, has been the epicenter of counter-terrorism operations, resulting in the killing of several active terrorists, officials said. Security forces are making continuous efforts to eliminate the terrorists remaining in the remote and forested areas of the district. According to available data, five people, including four terrorists and an army personnel, have died in terrorist incidents in 2026. In 2025, this figure was four, which included three terrorists and one army soldier. Whereas in 2024, three security personnel and two civilians lost their lives.