
SRINAGAR: Security forces have launched massive operations in the upper reaches and forests in the Jammu region to track down 40-50 militants hiding there who are involved in hit-and-run attacks on security personnel.
Sources said the army, police and CRPF launched joint operations in eight out of 10 districts of the region.
“Twenty-three simultaneous operations are on in the upper reaches and forest areas, where militants are suspected to be hiding,” they said. The searches are in the Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban, Rajouri, Poonch, Udhampur, Kathua, and Reasi districts.
Ten are taking place in Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts, and seven in twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch districts, where two groups of LeT militants are hiding and were involved in a series of attacks on security forces.
The Home Ministry has directed security agencies to weed out the militants to prevent them from attacking security forces in the coming summer months.
Security experts, including former J&K police chief S P Vaid, claim Pakistan has pushed battle-hardened militants and highly trained SSG commandos into the Jammu region.
While earlier, militancy was confined to border districts of Poonch and Rajouri in the Jammu region, where since 2021, 44 people, including 18 security personnel and 13 militants, were killed in militancy violence, militancy has now spread to more districts of the Jammu region.
Last year, militancy incidents, including encounters and attacks, took place in eight out of 10 districts in the
Jammu region including in Jammu. At least 18 security personnel, three Village Defence Group members, 14 civilians and 13 militants were killed in militancy incidents in the Jammu region.
In the biggest attack targetting civilians on June 9, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was taking oath for the third term, militants attacked a bus carrying pilgrims from Shiv Khori shrine in Reasi district killing nine persons and injuring 43. After the abrogation of Article 370, militants are attempting to shift militancy to the Jammu region from Kashmir, where they are on the run due to “Operation All Out” launched by security forces.
Forces are using drones and other sophisticated gadgets to track down the movement of the militants hiding in the caves in the mountains and forest areas.
The Village Defence Group members have been directed to increase patrolling in sensitive areas to detect militant movements.
“The security operations have been launched to deny militants any space to move to the hinterland from the upper reaches and carry out attacks during the spring and summer months,” sources said.
After the surge in militant attacks and activities, the army has inducted additional troops in the region to bring down the violence and deny militants space to carry out hit-and-run attacks. NIA officers assisted by paramilitary personnel on Tuesday conducted extensive searches in three districts of Jammu & Kashmir.
The teams seized several incriminating materials from the residential premises belonging to sympathisers, cadres and overground workers (OGWs) of the proscribed terror outfit, LeT, and its offshoot ‘The Resistance Front’ (TRF). The suspects were involved in harbouring, sheltering, and providing logistical assistance to terrorists,” an NIA spokesman said.
He said NIA investigations have so far revealed that masterminds of LeT and TRF were in touch with youth in the Valley to orchestrate attacks on non-locals as part of a conspiracy to wage war against India.