Kulgam Ambush Injures 3 CRPF Men as New Proxy Outfit Claims Attack From Pakistan

SRINAGAR — Motorcycle-borne militants opened fire on a security checkpoint in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on November 11, wounding three Central Reserve Police Force personnel before fleeing into interior lanes.

Six rounds cracked through the autumn air at Akhran village, four kilometres off the National Highway, around 2:15 pm. The assault was fast, deliberate, and evasive. Hours later, an unknown outfit calling itself Pasdaran-e-Hurriyat Kashmir claimed responsibility for the strike, warning security forces of a “new wave of devastating attacks.” Yet counter-terror investigators suspect the front is merely an old adversary operating behind fresh digital camouflage — specifically hybrid operatives attached to The Resistance Front, an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The Akhran Ambush & The Pakistan Digital Trail

Security agencies zeroed in on the propaganda apparatus within hours of the shooting. The claim statement, released around 6:00 pm under the name of purported spokesperson Mohammad Omar Azzam, did not originate from verified local networks.

It surfaced through an Instagram handle previously operating as 'Yalghaar Media'. Operators had methodically scrubbed the account's historical posts before rebranding it to publish the ambush claim. A location capture logged at approximately 10:00 pm traced the account directly to Pakistan. While The Resistance Front issued no formal communique, intelligence officials assess that established terror networks frequently float pop-up proxy handles to sidestep global scrutiny and skirt international terror financing watchlists.

Kishtwar Executions & Missing Service Weapons

Parallel bloodletting unfolded along the rugged mountain corridors of Kishtwar district. Search teams recovered the bullet-riddled bodies of two Special Police Officers deep in the Dachhan forest on November 11, ending an anxious search across high-altitude terrain.

Babi Chand, 57, and Rashpal Kumar, 45, were attached to the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s Special Operations Group. Both officers vanished en route to a forward post of the 17 Rashtriya Rifles beyond Kiyar Top. They had pushed ahead with local pony porters after their SOG escort turned back. Their bodies were discovered roughly two kilometres from their last confirmed coordinates, bearing multiple gunshot trauma, including a point-blank cranial wound in one case.

Their government-issue firepower was gone. Assailants stripped both fallen officers of their standard weapons — an INSAS assault rifle and a .303 service rifle.

A massive multi-agency dragnet comprising Marwah Police, the Special Operations Group, and troops from 17 Rashtriya Rifles continues to comb the high-altitude forested ridgelines of Dachhan to neutralise the infiltration pocket and recover the stolen weaponry.