An Indian solider was killed and two others were injured in a landmine explosion near the Line of Control (LoC).
The blast occurred in the Rajouri-Poonch range of the Jammu division, where 24 militants, 17 security personnel and seven civilians have been killed during this year alone.
This explosion comes days after Director General of Police RR Swain said foreign fighters were active in the Rajouri-Poonch range and using hideouts in caves, forests, and in the wilderness.
“Undoubtedly, there is a security situation in Rajouri-Poonch. Mostly these are foreign fighters there. If you live in caves and wilderness, definitely there will be a challenge regarding information flow. The number is not so high that we cannot fight,” Swain had previously said.
A senior government official told Sputnik India that army personnel were carrying out routine surveillance along the LoC when one of them stepped on a landmine on Thursday morning.
The injured troopers were airlifted to a command hospital in Udhampur where one of the soldiers succumbed to his injuries. The others are being treated. The explosion comes weeks after five army personnel were killed by militants who ambushed their vehicle in the same range.
Since the inception of the anti-India insurgency in the region in the late 1980s, the Jammu region saw low levels of militant violence in comparison to the Kashmir region, where thousands had joined militant ranks along with foreign fighters who were pouring in the region to battle the Indian army.
While militancy overall has ebbed in the region, the Jammu division for the past few years has witnessed an uptick in violence, with civilians and security forces being targeted.
“The attack is a continuation of a strategy shift wherein militants want the Jammu region tense by perpetuating bouts of violence from time to time,” one senior government official told Sputnik requesting anonymity.