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Forces gun down four armed terrorists in Poonch’s Surankote
Four heavily-armed terrorists, suspected to be from Pakistan, were killed in a joint operation in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district.
Security forces on Tuesday killed four heavily-armed terrorists, suspected to be from Pakistan, in a joint operation following a tip-off about their presence at Sindhara in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district.
Speaking to media at Potha in Surankote, Brigadier MP Singh, 6 sector commander Rashtriya Rifles said, “Acting on a tip-off, security forces had laid a cordon since Monday. Troops kept retaliating to the terrorists’ fire while pinning them down in the Sindhara general area. The intermittent continued through the night and lasted till 5.30 am on Tuesday.”
The army officer informed that the troops were at the highest alert to prevent the terrorists breaking the cordon.
“This morning, a detailed search was carried out that resulted in recovery of a large quantity of arms and ammunition that included four AK series assault rifles, eight magazines, 196 rounds, two 9 mm pistols with three magazines and 24 rounds. Bodies of the four slain terrorists were also found in the area,” he said.
Singh informed that the weapons found with terrorists had Chinese markings on the rifles, while the pistols had Pakistani markings.
He said the presence of such heavily-armed terrorists in the hinterland is indicative of Pakistan’s attempts to destabilise the region, adding, “Had they not been neutralised in time, they would have carried out major terror attacks in the coming days. The relentless operations by the security forces will be continued and it’s being seen that they have started giving results. Army along with police and other sister agencies will continue their operations with renewed vigour to flush out the remaining terrorists in the area.”
The officer also referred to recent intrusion bids on the Line of Control (LoC) at Sarla Battalion area and in Nowshera saying, “They allude to the bigger plan of Pakistan of spreading instability in the region.”
Poonch senior superintendent of police (SSP) Vinay Kumar, meanwhile, said, “The present operation was a live example of a top level synergy between the security forces. We were getting inputs for the past many days about the movement of terrorists in the area and acting upon one specific input led to this operation and elimination of four terrorists.”
Kumar said the security forces will soon free Poonch from militancy.
Notably, Sindhara, around 20 km from the LoC, is a hill that can be spotted from Poonch town. It has remained a traditional transit route for Pakistan-based terrorists, who use it to reach Gursai and enter Rajouri district.
Official sources said the four terrorists eliminated in Sindhara could be one of the groups responsible for April 20 and May 5 ambushes of the soldiers in Tota Gali and Kandi forests in Poonch and Rajouri districts respectively. The army had lost 10 men, five each in the two ambushes.
Intelligence agencies confided to HT that around 16 to 18 terrorists were believed to be present south of Pir Panjal range in Rajouri and Poonch districts.
On Monday, the army pressed into service surveillance drones along with other night vision devices to locate the terrorists at Sindhara.
On January 1 and 2, terrorists had killed seven Hindus in targeted attacks in Rajouri’s Dhangri. The perpetrators of the three attacks remained on the run
People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), an offshoot of Jaish-e-Mohammad, released a 2.5-minute video clip of the April 20 ambush on social media on May 8, showing a terrorist with a body camera purportedly shooting a soldier multiple times. The outfit also released a video of the May 5 ambush. Later on June 2, security forces gunned down a Pakistani terrorist in Dasal Gujran in Rajouri.
