JAMMU, May 26: Security forces on Tuesday launched a fire assault on specific hideouts and inducted additional troops as the operation to track down terrorists believed to be hiding in the dense forests of Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district entered the fourth day, officials said.
The assault was launched on suspected hideouts in the Dorimal-Gambhir Moghla belt of Manjakote area amid intensified efforts to flush out the terrorists, they said.
Officials said plumes of smoke were seen rising from the forested areas following the assault, indicating that targeted locations were struck during the operation.
Security forces are also tracking blood stains believed to have been left behind by the fleeing terrorists after a hideout was destroyed during an assault carried out on Monday, they said.
Backed by helicopters, drones and sniffer dogs, joint teams of the Army, Jammu and Kashmir Police and paramilitary forces are conducting extensive searches in adjoining areas. The cordon around the operation zone has been further strengthened with the induction of additional troops, officials said.
More reinforcements have been rushed to the forests of Dori Maal in the Gambhir Moghla area, where the anti-terror operation is underway. Additional operational teams have also been deployed to expand the search area and intensify efforts to track and eliminate the terrorists, they added.
An encounter had broken out between terrorists and security forces in the Dorimal-Gambhir Moghla belt on Saturday after a joint team launched Operation Sheruwali 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 on Saturday 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.
According to preliminary reports, two to three terrorists, including a commander, are believed to be hiding in the area. The Army’s White Knight Corps had said that contact was established with terrorists on Saturday in the general area of Gambhir Moghla during an intelligence-based joint operation carried out with the police and CRPF.
