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| No clue to whereabouts of infiltrators on Day | | |
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Mar 24: For the second consecutive day, troops continued with their "seek and destroy" operation launched Tuesday to hunt down the eight odd infiltrators, who had entered Jogwan in Akhnoor, breaching the "foolproof" security on the Line of Control (LoC).
Combing of the Jogwan forests continued from dawn till dusk, but troops could not find any clue to the whereabouts of the heavily armed infiltrators, who had a mobile set too.A red alert was sounded in the whole of Akhnoor tehsil where people had been asked to immediately contact army or police in case they sighted suspicious persons in their area.
The infiltrators wore Pathan suits and carried bags on their shoulders.Official sources said searches were called off tonight, but cordons and ambushes were laid by troops and police at all the vantage points and on the routes connecting Jogwan with the nearby towns.An alert had also been sounded on the LoC and the International Border (IB), the sources added.
There was no point of their going back to Pakistan as they had already come 12 km inside the Indian territory. They were either hiding in the dense Jogwan forests or had managed to escape towards the adjoining Sunderbani hills in Rajouri.
In 2003 or so also, a group of seven militants had disappeared after infiltrating from Jogwan. All of them were spotted by troops after over a week in a Bakkerwal's hut and killed in a gunbattle.
Sources said 28 Brigade of army had fanned out troops in Sunderbani hills too in search for the infiltrators. The infiltrators were sighted by eight members of three families, including three women and two young girls, in Saryala Nullah at Jogwan Tuesday at about 5 am. They were on their way to their border fields to collect fodder for cattle.
They were walking along the Saryala Nullah, which flows into Pakistan, when whispered words had hit their ears. A peep into the nullah had unravelled the mystery behind the whispering. Eight odd militants hid there, who were talking in a low voice.
Though six villagers had made good their escape, two women -- Sukha Devi, wife Sham Lal and Geeta Devi, wife of Rashpal -- were caught by them and dragged into the nullah. When they had tried to raise an alarm, they were slapped and beaten with rifle butts. However, both of them were later released by the infiltrators.
They then ran towards Jogwan where their six accomplices had already alerted the villagers. All of them later approached a nearby army picket and narrated the whole incident.
The two women told troops that after dragging them into the nullah, one of the militants spoke to someone (possibly in Pakistan) on a mobile set and told him that some villagers had seen them and that two women had been held hostage by them.
They said the voice on the other side directed them to free the women as their killing with gunshots was likely to attract the attention of army. They were then freed.The infiltrators were sighted at about 5 am and the operation was launched at about 8.30 or 9 am. In three to four hours, the militants could reach Sunderbani hills taking the short Jogwan forests' route, an officer of an intelligence agency told The Early Times.
Sources said army troops, police and SOG jawans had laid ambushes in Jogwan and its adjoining areas, plugging all escape routes.Checking of vehicles and frisking of pedestrians was also being carried on the Akhnoor-Jammu road. The movement of vehicles and locals was also restricted, the sources added. |
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