NEW DELHI : The Congress on Tuesday hit out at the Centre after four soldiers were killed in an encounter in Doda, and asked what happened to all those “grand claims” made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Jammu and Kashmir.

Four army personnel, including an officer, died after being injured in a gunfight with heavily armed terrorists in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Tuesday. The latest incident comes a week after a terrorist ambush on an Army patrol in the remote Machedi forest belt in Kathua district claimed the lives of five soldiers and injured as many.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said he was deeply distressed by the martyrdom of the four brave soldiers, including an officer.

“Our heart goes out to the families of our bravehearts, who made the supreme sacrifice in the service of Bharat Mata. Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured, and we wish him a speedy and complete recovery,” he said. No words of strong and unequivocal condemnation will suffice for these acts of violence being perpetrated by cowardly terrorists, he said.

“The spate of terror attacks that has gripped Jammu and Kashmir in the past 36 days, needs careful recalibration in our security strategy. The Modi government is acting as if everything is ‘business as usual’ and nothing has changed. They must know that increasingly the Jammu region is bearing the brunt of these attacks,” Kharge said.

“We cannot endanger our national security by indulging in false bravado, fake narratives and high-decibel whitewashing. As a nation, we have to collectively fight the scrouge of cross-border terrorism,” he said.  “The Indian National Congress stands strongly with our valiant Armed Forces,” Kharge said.

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said India’s soldiers and their families have been bearing the brunt of the BJP’s wrong policies.

“Today, our soldiers were martyred in another terrorist encounter in Jammu and Kashmir. I pay my humble tribute to the martyrs and express my deepest condolences to the bereaved families. Such horrific incidents one after the other are extremely sad and worrying.

These continuous terrorist attacks are reflecting the dilapidated condition of Jammu and Kashmir. Our soldiers and their families are bearing the brunt of the BJP’s wrong policies.

It is the demand of every patriotic Indian that the government should take full responsibility for the repeated security lapses and take strict action against the culprits of the country and the soldiers. In this hour of grief, the entire country stands united against terrorism,” he wrote on X in Hindi.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said there have been 11 terror attacks in the last 78 days in Jammu alone.

“This is a wholly new development. While we must demonstrate an effective collective response cutting across political parties, the question must also be asked: what happened to all those grand claims made by the self-anointed non-biological PM and the self-styled Chanakya?” Ramesh said on X.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the news of martyrdom of four soldiers, including an army officer, in an encounter with terrorists in Doda, Jammu and Kashmir is extremely saddening. “My deepest condolences to the bereaved families. We will all remain forever indebted to the brave soldiers and their families who made the supreme sacrifice,” she said.

The latest gunfight was the third major encounter between security forces and terrorists in the forests of Doda district in the past three weeks. The Jammu region, which remained relatively peaceful between 2005 and 2021 after security forces wiped out decades-long terrorism, witnessed a spike in terror attacks over the past month.

It included an attack on a pilgrim bus that left nine persons dead and 40 injured.