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| TERROR KNOCKS SLEEPY DOORS IN JAMMU | | 3 militants among 9 killed, 4 hostages rescued after 18 hr gun battle | | Hunt launched in city, outskirts
Early Times Reporter
Jammu | Aug 27
The terror tentacles spread by Pakistan to cause unrest in Jammu and Kashmir, knocked the sleepy doors of this City of Temples early this morning taking the town and its inmates by a shock but not surprise as a militant strike in the prevailing scenario was all the much expected.
With reports of more militants have been spotted, security forces have launched a massive hunt in different parts of City and its outskirts.
One of the longest encounters in the recent history of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir was still going on in Chinore area of the City outskirts when this report was filed. At least seven people, including four children and two women, had been taken hostage by the militants believed to be three in number.
Earlier, security forces rescued three children and a woman, who were held hostage during a gunbattle in which three civilians, an army officer and a militant were killed in the daylong developments.
The militants, holed up in a house in Chinore on the outskirts of this city, took six civilians hostage Wednesday morning. The police said they were trying to rescue the two remaining hostages before launching an assault on the guerrillas.
The police said three terrorists had crossed into Jammu and Kashmir from the Kanachak sector of the border with Pakistan Tuesday morning. They were intercepted at the police check post of Chinore Wednesday morning, about 20 km north from the centre of Jammu.
The militants, dressed in police uniforms and carrying AK-47 assault rifles, shot dead a junior commissioned officer and then hijacked a three-wheeler. They then fired indiscriminately killing Shabeet Hussain, a milk man, and motorcyclist Naseeb Singh before killing the three-wheeler driver, Vijay Kumar, said the police.
The guerrillas then entered a house in Chinore. Police and army personnel cordoned off the area and were engaged in a gunbattle with the militants.
Once the remaining hostages were rescued, there would be a "final onslaught", said an army officer, which in military terms means blowing up the building with rocket launchers or explosives.
"This (civilian hostages) is what is holding us up from launching final onslaught. We are ready for that," the army officer on the spot told Early Times.
Army personnel have taken positions on roof tops of adjoining houses in densely populated Chinore, located on a hillock.
Grenade explosions and gun shots were heard in the area as the one-storey building where the militants were hiding was perforated with bullet marks. "A high alert has been sounded in Jammu due to the terrorist infiltration from across the border," said Inspector General of Police (Jammu Zone) K Rajendra.
The Border Security Force (BSF), along with police and army personnel, had launched a massive manhunt for the militants, who had entered the Indian territory at Kanachak, about 20 km north of here, after cutting the barbed wire fence Tuesday.
"This is a serious situation. The intruders sneaked into the Indian side under the cover of fire, which was most probably provided by the Pakistani Rangers," a BSF official said.
Meanwhile, India on Wednesday lodged a strong protest with Pakistan for pushing in militants in Jammu and Kashmir in the cover of firing from across the border and presented evidence at a meeting between the border guards of the two countries.
"We have lodged a strong protest with our Pakistan counterparts at the border outpost on the International Border in the Jammu frontier over pushing in of militants under the cover of cross-border firing in Kanachak area on Tuesday," Deputy Inspector General, Jammu, J B Sangwan said after a flag meeting of the Border Security Force and Pakistan Rangers.
The move came a day after Pakistani troops fired at Indian positions in the 31st ceasefire violation this year leaving four Border Security Force personnel injured. The Pakistani troops also gave cover to a group of militants to infiltrate into the country in two incidents within a span of few hours in Jammu & Kashmir.
During the meeting at Tent post in Kana Chak in Jammu frontier between commandant of BSF and wing commander of Chinab Rangers, the Indianside showed the "ground proofs of infiltration and cutting of fencingbesides firing signs."
The Pakistan side dubbed it as a handiwork of militants and promised to probe the incident, BSF sources said.
The first incident on Tuesday took place as a BSF post along the Lineof Control in Poonch district. In the second episode, a group of 20-30unidentified militants took positions close to the InternationalBorder on the Pakistan side and opened indiscriminate firing on borderpatrol parties around 12.30 am, Sagwan said.
Three to four militants infiltrated through the Layliyal border outpost by cutting a three-tier fence, he said. |
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