Hiranagar operation enters Day 2
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 24: Commandos, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and sniffer dogs were pressed into the search operation at village Sanyal in Hiranagar sector of Kathua district which continued for second day today but the success remained elusive as no fresh contact has been established with the terrorists since last evening.
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Police, Army, SOG, paramilitary forces and VDGs maintained cordon in the area and expanded searches to surrounding belt to track down the terrorists, whose number was described by the civilians, who first spotted them, as five.
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A large quantity of material, including several magazines of M-4 carbine and a bulletproof jacket, was discovered as a search operation to neutralize the infiltrating terrorists continued for second day today with commandos joining the operation. UAVs and sniffer dogs have also been pressed into service, the officials said.
The operation was launched last evening in the Hiranagar sector and was intensified with additional deployment. A chopper was also deployed later.
Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat directed the operation from the ground.
The operation was launched by police with a Special Operations Group after they got intelligence about the presence of terrorists inside a ‘dhok’ – a local term for an enclosure – in a nursery in Sanyal village, approximately four km from the International Border with Pakistan last evening.
The hiding terrorists launched a barrage of fire at the police party, leading to an intense gunfight that lasted for more than half an hour, they said
Reinforcements were swiftly dispatched, as a manhunt was launched to apprehend the terrorists, believed to have infiltrated on Saturday via either the ravine route or through a newly created tunnel.
There has been no report of any casualty in the initial firing and the area was kept under a tight security cordon throughout the night before the security forces moved in at the crack of dawn, officials said.
Though there has been no fresh contact with the terrorists, the search parties found a few M4 carbine magazines, sleeping bags, tracksuits, several packets of eatables, and separate polythene bags, the contents of which will be known only when they are opened by the Bomb Disposal Squad, they said.
One of the inputs suggested that two groups of at least five terrorists each infiltrated on Saturday.
According to officials, some village women collecting firewood reported seeing around five terrorists who had sought refuge in the expansive nursery area.
A seven-year-old girl sustained minor injuries when a stray bullet passed close to her arm. She was shifted to a local hospital.
A 48-year-old villager, Anita Devi, said heavily armed terrorists caught hold of her husband when they were at the nursery to collect firewood.
“The terrorists held my husband at gunpoint and asked me to come near. But my husband signalled me to run and I ran. One of the terrorists tried to stop me but I started shouting, which attracted the attention of two more people who were cutting grass,” Anita Devi said.
She said the incident occurred around 4.30 pm on Sunday, and they all returned home and informed police. They were wearing beards and commando dresses, Anita Devi said.
“An atmosphere of fear has gripped the village by the terrorist presence. We heard around 250 rounds of gunfire,” DDC Member Karan Kumar said, adding security forces have encircled the entire area to flush out the terrorists.
Kathua has emerged as a major infiltrating route for Pakistan-based terrorists to reach the higher reaches of Udhampur, Doda and Kishtwar districts and further to Kashmir, over the past year.
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