Special J&K Police team formed to take on terrorists in higher reaches

As militancy in Jammu and Kashmir has seen a shift from the mainland valley to the mountainous region, Jammu and Kashmir Police have formed a special team of personnel named “Snow Leopards”, who will be specialised in high-altitude warfare.

One such team has been deployed in the Gulmarg sector where Khelo Winter India Games are underway. Gulmarg is located close to the Line of Control and had witnessed a militant attack in 2024 when an Army vehicle came under attack.

J&K Police sources told The Tribune that a team of police personnel from the Special Operations Group, the elite anti-terror unit of Jammu and Kashmir Police, have been trained in high-altitude warfare. They have also been trained in specialised academies outside the UT. They would be deployed in the higher reaches and forest areas wherever needed.

“They have been undergoing training for a couple of months now. They have been trained specially to work in mountain areas and deal with terrorists hiding there,” said a senior official.

Since 2021, militants have taken refuge in dense forests in parts of the Jammu region. And, after carrying out attacks on security forces and civilians, they mostly hide in dense forests. In Kashmir region as well, militants hide mostly in dense forests. Last year, after the Pahalgam attack in which 26 people were killed, the attackers hid in forests until they were eliminated in an anti-militancy operation on the Srinagar outskirts.

Sources said that the need for having a specialised team of police personnel with training in operating in the jungle came after change in militant strategy over recent years — particularly with a shift towards jungle warfare.

“These specialised personnel will be deployed in different parts of the valley wherever we receive inputs about the presence of terrorists, especially in the higher reaches,” said a source.

Till now, J&K Police, which is the primary force in the UT, had no such team which is specialised to deal with high-altitude warfare.

The security forces in Jammu and Kashmir have, of late, initiated a number of measures to tackle the new shift in militancy where militants take refuge in forest areas. Security agencies in Jammu and Kashmir recently began holding joint weekly security review meetings to strengthen coordination and synergy among various forces operating in the Union Territory.               

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Courtesy: The Tribune -24-Feb-2026