JAMMU — Security forces on Thursday launched a fresh fire assault and multiple grenade launcher (MGL) attacks on specific suspected terrorist hideouts as the anti-terror operation in the dense forests of Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district entered its sixth consecutive day.
According to preliminary reports, two to three Pakistani terrorists, including a commander, are believed to be hiding in the area.
The fresh assault came a day after Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General Pratik Sharma visited the area and reviewed the ongoing anti-terror operation in the dense forests.
Officials said that the fresh fire assault was launched on suspected hideouts in the Dorimal-Gambhir Moghla belt of the Manjakote area amid narrowing down of the cordon to eliminate terrorists believed to be hiding in the region.
The firing and MGL assaults resulted in plumes of smoke rising from the forested areas, indicating that the targeted locations were struck during the operation, they said.
Security forces, which were following blood stains believed to have been left behind by the fleeing terrorists on Monday, have been closely tracking the suspected movement of the ultras, officials said.
On Monday, security forces busted a hideout after a brief exchange of fire amid strengthening of the cordon around the area where blood stains were detected.
Backed by helicopters, drones and sniffer dogs, joint teams of the Army, Jammu and Kashmir Police and paramilitary forces are conducting extensive searches in the adjoining areas. The cordon around the operation zone has been further strengthened with the induction of additional troops, officials said.
Amid intensified checking of vehicles on roads connected to the area, more reinforcements have been rushed to the forests of Dori Maal in the Gambhir Moghla area, where the anti-terror operation is underway, they added.
On Saturday, an encounter broke out between terrorists and security forces in the Dorimal-Gambhir Moghla belt after a joint team launched the operation following intelligence inputs about the presence of terrorists in the Singhpora-Chatroo area.
A joint team of the Army, Jammu and Kashmir Police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) had launched a massive cordon-and-search operation in the area based on specific information about the movement of suspected terrorists.
The operation led to a brief exchange of fire after contact was established with the terrorists, prompting security forces to continue extensive searches in the rugged and heavily forested terrain. — (PTI)