Early Times Report
POONCH/JAMMU, Dec 22: Security forces Friday launched a massive cordon and search operation in the forest area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district and a National Investigation Agency team also visited there, a day after five army personnel were martyred and two others injured in a terrorist attack.
The General officer Commanding (GoC), XVI corps, Lt Gen Sandeep Jain and Director General of Police.
R R Swain visited Ground Zero and reviewed the situation with top army and police officers, officials said.
“Indian Army and White knight Corps salutes the bravery and supreme sacrifice of four soldiers in Surankote on yesterday while fighting the scourge of terrorism”, White Knight Corps, or XVI corps, wrote on X.
An official said aerial monitoring using helicopters is also being conducted and sniffer dogs have been pressed into service to track down the terrorists who ambushed two Army vehicles in the area Thursday afternoon.
“A massive cordon and search operation has begun this morning after a night cordon in area,” an officer said. The operation was still going on.
He said that additional troops have been inducted into area to track down the terrorists involved in the firing.
On Thursday, around 3.45 pm, the two army vehicles carrying personnel to the site of a cordon-and-search operation came > GoC 16 Corps, DGP Swain, NIA team visit Ground Zero
> Helicopters, sniffer dogs pressed to track down terrorists
> Anti-Pakistan protests held in Jammu
The officer quoted above said the Dhera Ki Gali (DKG) Road has been closed for traffic. Top officials of army and police are monitoring in the situation at the ground.
The heavily-armed terrorists, believed to three to four in number, initially took position on hill tops and chose a blind curve to target the army vehicles.
In Jammu, several bodies including the Jammu Statehood Organisation held anti-Pakistan protests in the city and burnt the effigy of Pakistan.
Dogra front Shiv Sena also held anti-Pakistan protests and demand an all out operation to clean the area of terrorists. They asked the government to carry out special operation along forest areas and strengthen intelligence network.
Searches in Kishtwar
Meanwhile, security forces on Friday carried out search operation in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Police sources said that in the backdrop of an ongoing encounter in Poonch district, search operation is being conducted in the area.
“Several houses are also being searched as part of the operation”, the sources said.
Notably, an encounter is underway in the Surankote area of Poonch which has so far claimed the lives of five soldiers and two others sustained injuries. | 