KISHTWAR (The Thursday Times) — The bodies of two Special Police Officers who went missing in Kishtwar district of Indian-administered Kashmir were recovered on Thursday with bullet wounds, and their service weapons were missing, officials said.
The men were identified as Babi Chand, 57, and Rashpal Kumar, 45. Both were from the Kiyar area of Dachhan and were attached to the local police’s Special Operations Group, posted at Kiyar village.
They went missing while travelling from their camp to an army post at Dharna in the Marwah area, officials said. Their mobile phones could be reached at first but were later switched off, prompting a large search by the police and the army.
The bodies were found in a forested part of Dachhan after a search that used drones and sniffer dogs across the district’s steep, wooded terrain.
Weapons missing
Officials said the missing rifles raised suspicion that terrorists were involved, but no group has claimed responsibility and the police have not said who carried out the killings. Officials had earlier cautioned against linking the disappearance to terrorism before the facts were known.
Security forces have widened the cordon and search in the area to trace those responsible and to recover the weapons.
Kishtwar’s remote villages and dense forests have long been a focus of counter-terrorism operations. The killings come days after terrorists wounded three CRPF personnel in an attack on a checkpost in Kulgam.
