Bharat Bhushan
JAMMU, Sept 16: A massive combing operation, launched by police in some Samba villages last night following reports about the movement of three suspected militants at Dansala Mandi, continued today also but the cops could not find any trace of them.
Pulvinder Singh of Dansala Mandi was the first to pick up the movement of the suspected militants. "I saw three armed militants at about 7.30 pm Saturday. As they moved through the village, I fired at them from my .12 bore gun. The bullet, however, missed the target and they fled without retaliating," he told ET over phone.
The news spread like wildfire and the village men soon gathered at the spot where the militants had been sighted. Police were also informed.
Locals said it was at about 11 pm when police laid a cordon around the area and launched a combing operation. While searches were later suspended due to darkness, the cordon remained there, with the cops plugging all escape routes.
The operation resumed in the morning and continued till evening but the cops could not get any clue to the whereabouts of the suspected militants.
Additional SP, Samba, Koshal Sharma said a tight vigil was being maintained in the area to avoid any untoward incident.
Police sources said the militants, who were following the old infiltration route, were suspected to have entered the Indian territory somewhere from Samba, or Vijaypur sub-sector.
In 2008, four militants, who had infiltrated from Samba sub-sector, were trapped and shot dead by army in an encounter at Kaili Mandi of Samba. At least seven civilians were also killed in the incident.
Over a month, or so back, a tunnel, which had its one end somewhere in the Pak territory, was discovered in the border Chilyari area of Samba. It had been dug by Pak engineers, with the connivance of the Rangers, to push militants through this secret route, the sources added.
An alert had also been sounded in the border areas of Samba and the Samba stretch of the national highway. It may be mentioned here that over five to six years back, two cops were shot dead by as many infiltrating militants at Sapwal in Samba. During the same time, a foreign militant was shot dead by a village boy at Chilla Danga in Samba. |
