
The bodies of two missing Village Defense Guards (VDGs) were recovered on Friday in the upper reaches of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district. The grim discovery was made during an ongoing search operation launched after an offshoot of the terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), known as the Kashmir Tigers, claimed responsibility for the killing.
The operation to locate the VDGs, Nazir Ahmad and Kuldeep Kumar, was launched on Thursday evening when they failed to return home after taking their livestock for grazing in the Munzla Dhar forest, Adhwari area. Security forces, including personnel from the J&K Police, the Army, and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), executed a massive cordon-and-search operation throughout the forested region to track down the suspects behind the killing. Jammu’s Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Anand Jain, confirmed that the bodies of Ahmad and Kumar were located in a dense jungle area.
According to a J&K police officer involved in the operation, it took nearly six hours of cautious movement to reach the bodies, as forces were wary of potential traps or ambushes set up by terrorists. “The challenging terrain and risk of traps slowed the progress, but the bodies were eventually found and are being transported to the respective homes of the victims,” the officer, who requested anonymity, stated.
The Kashmir Tigers, which is linked to the Pakistan-based JeM, shared a photograph of the two VDGs in which they were shown blindfolded. In an accompanying statement, the group warned others against joining the Village Defense Guards, threatening similar violence as punishment. The VDGs, reintroduced in 2022 after a series of terrorist attacks in the Union Territory, were originally established in the 1990s as a protective measure during the peak of militancy but were dissolved in 2000.
The incident prompted strong condemnation across Jammu and Kashmir. Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah took to social media, posting on X, “Deeply saddened & concerned by the attack that resulted in the deaths of Kuldeep Kumar & Nazeer Ahmed Padder of Kuntwara in Kishtwar. I condemn this attack unequivocally & send my condolences to the families. At the same time, I expect the security forces to move quickly to plug any gaps in our counter-terror grid & ensure that attacks like this stop completely.”
Sources By Agencies