Jammu: Several individuals were detained for questioning on Tuesday as a massive search and cordon operation to hunt down terrorists entered its third day in the upper reaches of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district, officials said.
The operation, launched on Sunday in Sonnar village near Mandral-Singhpora in the Chatroo belt, followed an encounter in which one Army paratrooper was killed and seven others injured, mostly due to splinter injuries from a sudden grenade attack by terrorists hiding in the area.
The militants managed to escape into dense forests, but security forces busted their well-fortified hideout stocked with a large quantity of winter supplies, including food items, blankets and utensils.
Senior officers, including Inspector General of Police, Jammu Zone, Bhim Sen Tuti, and Inspector General of CRPF, Jammu, R Gopala Krishna Rao, reached the encounter site and are camping there along with senior Army officers to supervise the ongoing operation.
Meanwhile, a wreath-laying ceremony was held in Jammu on Tuesday morning to pay tributes to the slain Special Force commando, Havildar Gajendra Singh.
The ceremony at Satwari was led by Brig Yudhvir Singh Sekhon, Officiating Chief of Staff, White Knight Corps, after which the mortal remains were sent to the soldier’s native place in Uttarakhand for last rites, officials said.
Deputy Inspector General of Police, Jammu-Kathua-Samba range, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Deputy Commissioner Jammu Rakesh Minhas, and senior officers from the police, CRPF and BSF attended the wreath-laying ceremony.
Officials said several persons were taken in for questioning on Monday afternoon in connection with the busted hideout, located at an altitude of over 12,000 feet.
Security forces are working to identify overground workers (OGWs) who allegedly helped terrorists procure and transport large quantities of rations, pulses, utensils and other supplies sufficient to sustain at least four persons during harsh winter months.
In a post on X, the Army’s White Knight Corps said Operation Trashi-I is continuing in the Chatroo area. “The cordon has been further tightened with search operations expanded. Troops of the corps, along with police and CRPF, remain deployed to dominate the area,” it said.
Officials added that multiple teams of the Army, police and paramilitary forces, assisted by drones and sniffer dogs, are combing the area despite difficult terrain marked by thick vegetation and steep slopes that restrict visibility and movement.
A group of two to three terrorists, believed to be affiliated with the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), is suspected to be trapped in the area.
Security operations have been intensified across the Jammu region ahead of Republic Day in view of intelligence inputs about attempts by Pakistan-based handlers to push more terrorists into the region. (Agencies)
