SRINAGAR — Security forces have launched a massive search operation in the forests of the Kokernag area in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district to locate two missing soldiers who went out of contact during a combing exercise to track down terrorists, Army officials said on Wednesday.
The operation was launched on Monday in the Ahlan Gadole area of Kokernag following inputs that a group of terrorists was hiding there, the officials said.
However, two soldiers from the Army’s elite Para unit went missing after communication with them was lost. Helicopters have been deployed for aerial reconnaissance to trace the missing soldiers, they added.
Srinagar-based Chinar Corps said the operational team was caught in a severe snowstorm on Monday night.
“On the intervening night of October 6 and 7, an operational team in the Kishtwar range faced a severe snowstorm and whiteout conditions in the mountains of South Kashmir. Since then, two soldiers have gone out of communication,” the Chinar Corps said in a post on X.
A search and rescue operation is underway, the Corps added, noting that “intense efforts are on to rescue them but are being hampered by adverse weather conditions.” — (PTI)