New Delhi: A seek-and-destroy operation to track down three terrorists, believed to be hiding in a forest area in Panjthirthi-Barota in Kathua following an encounter last night, resumed on Thursday. As per the officials, multiple agencies were engaged in the effort. The area was positioned under a cordon after the Monday night gunfire between police and terrorists.
As per the officials, the three terrorists are assumed to have been forming a group that had its first face-off with security forces in the Nursery area near the International Border on March 23. All of the terrorists had managed to escape.
Four days later, security forces engaged them in an encounter amidst the forest area of the Sanyal belt of Kathua when two terrorists were eliminated, and the rest managed to escape. During this fire round, four policemen were also killed and three others injured.
With the hiding terrorists changing their locations in the forest, the security forces have launched a multi-agency operation to track them down.
The search operation was intensified early Monday morning with aerial surveillance and sniffer dogs being deployed, culminating in a fresh encounter at night. A night cordon was laid to ensure that the three terrorists holed up in the forests do not escape, sources said late on Monday.
The operation to track and eliminate the terrorists resumed Thursday with officials saying security has been reinforced in the area to strengthen the cordon and prevent the ultras from escaping. The Army’s rising star corps said on its Twitter handle, “Search and destroy operations were launched at first light on Tuesday morning. Operations in progress”.
“Acting on intelligence inputs, multiple surveillance-cum-ambushes were deployed in the general area Panjtirthi Kathua by the Indian Army, Police and CRPF. The suspicious movement was observed on the night of 31 March, leading to an exchange of fire,” the tweet further said.
On Monday, the operation — by a team of officers from the Army, Police, NSG, CRPF, and BSF — was carried out in the forested belts of Rui, Juthana, Ghati, and Sanyal in the Rajbagh region, as well as parts of Billawar, officials said.
Security agencies have said that it is difficult for terrorists to survive without a network of overground workers (OGWs) who provide them with food, shelter, and guidance. The forces have picked up six persons, including some women from one family, for questioning, as it is alleged they assisted terrorists operating in the region, the officials said.
The detained individuals allegedly belong to the family of suspected overground worker (OGW) Mohammad Latief, who is already in jail under the Public Safety Act (PSA), for aiding terrorists in Malhar during an attack on an Army truck last year, in which six soldiers lost their lives. The slain terrorist Abu Tala is also believed to have stayed at Latief’s house.
