Body of second missing para-commando recovered from J&Ks Gadole forest area

SRINAGAR: The body of a second missing elite para commando has been recovered from the Gadole forest area in Jammu and Kashmirs Anantnag district on Friday. The body of the second missing para commando was recovered by the security force personnel today during the ongoing search operation in the dense forest area of Gadole in Kokernag in Anantnag district, sources said. The body of the other missing para commando was recovered by security force personnel from the forest area yesterday. The identity of both the deceased para commandos is being ascertained. It is suspected that the two may have died in a weather-related incident in the dense forest area with difficult terrain due to inclement weather. The two elite para commandos had gone missing during a search operation in the forest area during the intervening night of October 6 and 7. According to the army, during the intervening night of October 6 and 7, an operational team on the Kishtwar range confronted a severe snowstorm and whiteout conditions in the mountains of South Kashmir. Hundreds of army, police, and paramilitary personnel, braving dense vegetation, difficult terrain, and inclement weather, had launched a massive combing and search operation since Tuesday in the dense forest area of Gadole to trace the missing commandos. The large-scale search operation was also simultaneously launched from the mountainous Kishwar district on the other side of the mountain to trace the missing para commandos. The Army had pressed drones, UAVs, and helicopters into service to trace and locate the missing para commando. The Gadole forest area with rough terrain connects south Kashmir with the Kishtwar and Doda districts of the Jammu region. Although security forces have ruled out a militant angle in the missing of two para commandos, the forest area where the duo went missing has witnessed many anti-militancy operations in the past targeting Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Toiba militants, who use the dense terrain in the upper reaches of Jammu and Kashmir to evade detection by security forces. The Gadole forest area witnessed one of the deadliest militant attacks in September 2023. In the militant attack, Colonel Manpreet Singh, Commanding Officer, 19 Rashtriya Rifles; Major Ashish Dhonchak; Deputy Superintendent of J&K Police Humayun Bhat, and army jawan Pradeep Kumar were killed. In the week-long anti-militancy operation, a top Lashkar commander was also killed.