Search operations intensified in J&K to track down terrorists; 6 held

Two terrorists and four policemen were killed while three others, including a deputy superintendent of police, were injured during a gunfight in a remote forested area in the Sanyal belt of district

Security forces have intensified search operations using aerial surveillance and sniffer dogs following a night-long cordon after fresh reports of suspected movement of three individuals, believed to be terrorists, who escaped a recent encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, officials said.

Two terrorists and four policemen were killed while three others, including a deputy superintendent of police, were injured during a gunfight in a remote forested area in the Sanyal belt of the district on Thursday.

Security forces, which have picked up six persons for questioning, have also launched a search operation in Samba sector near the international border to sanitise the area, while the entire border belt has been put on alert, officials said.

On Sunday night, three suspected terrorists entered a house in Rui village, several kilometres from the encounter site, and took away food from her kitchen, they said.

"Multi-tier combing operations have been intensified following fresh movement of terrorists. After a night-long cordon, a search operation was launched this morning in the Ghati-Juthana forest area," an officer said.

Aided by aerial surveillance and sniffer dogs, the army, police, NSG, CRPF and BSF are engaged in a multi-tier operation to track down the terrorists in the forest belts of Rui, Juthana, Ghati and Sanyal in the Rajbagh region, and parts of Billawar, the officials said.

The joint operation teams are also focusing on the overground and underground networks of the terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad in areas along the International Border (IB), they said.

On Sunday night, three suspicious persons dressed in black robes entered the house of Shanker in Rui village and asked for water from a elderly woman.

"I was alone at home when they asked me for water. I went into another room out of fear after giving them water," the elderly woman told reporters.

"Before leaving, they forcibly entered the kitchen and took away rotis and sabzi," she added.

The woman said they even offered her money -- two Rs 500 notes -- before leaving, which she refused.

The incident prompted the security forces to put the area under night cordon.

It is difficult for terrorists to survive in the absence of a network of overground workers (OGWs), who provide them with food, shelter and escape routes, the officials said.

The forces have picked up six persons, including some women of a family, for questioning as it is alleged that they provided food, shelter and guidance to the terrorists operating in the region, the officials said.

The women belong to the family of Mohammad Latief, an OGW who is in jail under the Public Safety Act (PSA) for helping terrorists in Malhar during an attack on an army truck last year, in which six soldiers lost their lives.

It is believed that Abu Tala, one of the slain terrorists, stayed at Latief's house.

The security forces have questioned over two dozen persons about terrorist movements in the area.

Police are also tracking a group of terrorists after intercepting them on March 23 within a 'dhok', a local term for an enclosure in a nursery, in Sanyal village near the International Border with Pakistan.

Tracking them led to an encounter in Sanyal village, which resulted in the killing of two terrorists and four policemen last Thursday.

The bodies of three other policemen -- Balwinder Singh Chib, Jaswant Singh and Tariq Ahmed -- were found on Friday evening.

The bodies of two Pakistani terrorists, believed to be affiliated to the Jaish-e-Mohammad, were also recovered along with war-like stores.

The body of head constable Jagbir Singh was retrieved from the Ghati-Juthana forest on Saturday.

The People's Anti-Fascist Front, a shadow outfit of Jaish-e-Mohammed, claimed involvement in the encounter.