SRINAGAR: Even as additional troops have been rushed to the Jammu region and security tightened to tackle the growing militancy, an encounter broke out between militants and security forces in the forest area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district on Tuesday.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Udhampur-Reasi Range, Raees Bhat said a specific input was received regarding militants’ movement in Khaned, part of the Basantgarh forest area. “Security forces launched a search operation in the wee hours today. During the search operation, contact was established with the militants hiding in the forest area,” he said.
ADGP Jammu Anand Jain said an exchange of fire took place between the two sides. A security official said it is suspected that a group of two to four Pakistani militants are trapped in the security forces cordon. After the initial exchange of gunfire, additional contingents of police, CRPF and army men were rushed to the forest area to tighten the siege and prevent militants from escaping deep into the forest area, he said.
The troops were using drones and Army helicopters for aerial surveillance to pinpoint the militant location in the dense forest area. Sniffer dogs have also been pressed into service to track down the militants, who are said to be well-armed. The encounter comes amid heightened security in the region. Security forces launched massive search and combing operations in forest areas of Poonch, Rajouri, Doda, Kathua and Udhampur districts after a surge in militant violence.
The encounter comes a fortnight after the last militant attack in Jammu region on the residence of Shaura chakra awardee VDC member Purshottam Kumar in the remote village of Rajouri in which a soldier and a relative of the VDC member were injured and 10 days after BAT attack on an Army post in Machil sector in north Kashmir in which an Army man and a Pak intruder were killed.
After the surge in militant attacks and militant violence in the Jammu region in which 14 soldiers and nine pilgrims were killed, about 4,000 additional troops, including 500 specially trained para commandos, have been deployed in the area to foil militants’ plan to shift militancy to Jammu region. On July 15, four soldiers, including a Captain, were killed in an encounter with militants in a dense forest area of Doda.
According to security officials, about 50-60 heavily armed and well-trained Pakistani militants are active in the Jammu region. The militants are suspected to be Afghan war veterans and retired Pakistani service men. The militants, according officials, have split into smaller groups of 2-3 and made natural caves in the forest areas as their hide-outs where they disappear after carrying out the attacks.
Besides additional deployment, security agencies are upgrading the human and technical intelligence to get more information about hiding militants. The Village Defence Groups (VDGs), formerly Village Defence Committees (VDCs), have been revived and are being armed with automatic weapons to assist security forces in anti-militancy operations in the region.
The counter-infiltration grid along the LoC and International Border (IB) has been strengthened and police have deployed a special force at the frontiers.