Amid the ongoing anti-terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir, three armed terrorists, believed to be members of Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit, barged into the house of a villager in Basantgarh area of Udhampur district on Wednesday night, demanded food and later fled with a mobile phone, clothes, shoes, a bag and an umbrella.
Talking to HT over phone, Rashpaul Singh, a 35-year-old school teacher, who was home with his elderly parents when the terrorists stormed, said, “Around 8 pm on Wednesday, three men carrying firearms barged into our house. They were wearing black clothes, supported beards and moustaches. They asked us to stay calm and not get frightened,” Singh said.
Describing their appearance, Singh said one of them looked to be about 34 years old, while the other two appeared to be in their mid-20s.
“They said that they were hungry and demanded food. We provided them food,” Singh said. “When he asked them whether they were from the army, one of them replied that they were militants,” Singh said, adding that all three carried firearms.
“While two had basic looking weapons, probably AK-47s, third one had a sophisticated one, probably M4 carbine with a vision device mounted on it,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“While two had basic looking weapons, probably AK-47s, third one had a sophisticated one, probably M4 carbine with a vision device mounted on it,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}The armed men stayed inside the house until around 11.30 pm. During that time, Singh said the men used his mobile phone to make a WhatsApp call.
“They also made a WhatsApp call from my phone to some contact and talked to him in a language, which we couldn’t understand. They understood our Dogri language but they conversed in Urdu with each other,” he said.
Before fleeing, the terrorists took away Singh’s mobile phone, some clothes, trousers, shoes, an umbrella and a bag, although they returned his SIM card.
“Before leaving the house, they enquired about Panara, Basantgarh, Sangh and other places,” Singh said, referring to nearby villages and areas in the region.
On Thursday, senior police officials visited Singh’s home and took note of the incident. Singh confirmed he briefed them on every detail.
Singh’s house is located about 15km from Jopher village, where an encounter between security forces and terrorists occurred on Wednesday. Jopher lies to the north of Khabbal.
This is the second such incident in recent days in Udhampur. On April 3, two terrorists barged into a house in Chore Panjwa-Khabbal area of Majalta block, held a family hostage and took away a mobile phone and food before fleeing around 10 pm.
That earlier incident occurred in the same area where terrorists were sighted by security forces on April 3.
Officials believe both incidents may involve members of the same infiltrating group, which was first seen on March 23 in the Saniyal forest area of Hiranagar sector after crossing the international border.
Authorities suspect that the infiltrated group has now split into smaller units, moving across Udhampur and adjoining districts. Since March 23, security forces and police have been tracking their movements across several forested and remote areas.