Terror plot foiled by police
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 5: Assorted ammunition, including a mortar bomb, was seized as security forces busted a militant hideout in the higher reaches of Ramban district and thwarted a plot by the militants to carry out terror strikes in the district or surrounding areas.
The hideout was unearthed during a joint search operation by 23 Rashtriya Rifles of Army and police in Jamalwan forest in Khari area of Ramban.
Besides the 52 mm mortar bomb, the search parties recovered four detonators, cordtex wire (detonating cord), five magazines of AK assault rifle, two pistol magazines, LMG ammunition belt box, 292 rounds of assorted ammunition and several other related items, police said.
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Some old bags, identity cards, audio cassettes etc were also among the seizure.
“Given the rusted condition of the seized material, it seems the hideout was an old one (when militants used to operate in the area over a decade back). The graph of militancy is on decline in Ramban and only a few isolated incidents have taken place in the district over the last several years,” police said.
However, the recovery has thwarted the militant designs as the terrorists could have used them to trigger the strikes, they added.
Referring to a grenade attack outside a police post in Gool in August last year, police said that was the last militancy-related incident reported in the district.
They said the search operation was carried out on reliable information and an outcome of the public outreach programme of police and security forces.
“Army, police and other security agencies are dominating the higher reaches by patrolling the areas (to maintain vigil) as passes are opening up with the melting of snow,” police said.
They added that police used to carry out routine patrolling in sensitive areas of the district including which were once used by the militants for shelter and dumping arms, ammunition and explosives. Police have also asked locals of the area to keep informing them about activities of the anti-national elements or their sympathisers.
It was in this connection that police came across the militant hideout and busted it successfully.
It may be mentioned here that the militants especially those sitting in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Jammu Kashmir (PoJK) have been trying to revive militancy in Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts but their attempts have been foiled by the police and security forces.
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