POONCH: Security personnel seized various foodstuffs with Pakistani marks, as well as weapons and ammunition, clothing, and medicines, during a combined search operation on Thursday at the encounter location in Poonch district, where two terrorists were killed on Wednesday while attempting to infiltrate the area. According to defence PRO (Jammu) Lieutenant Colonel Suneel Bartwal, “recovery of gloves, medicines, water-resistant and warm clothes, night vision devices, and other items indicate they were ready for “forest survival” in higher reaches of J&K without any local support.”On Tuesday night in the Poonch sub-sector of Mandi, the pair was seen crossing the Line of Control. Army and J&K Police conducted a search-and-combing operation to find the terrorists. The two terrorists were encircled and began firing indiscriminately at the security personnel. The security forces returned fire, which sparked a furious gun battle in which the two terrorists were killed. The Army discovered a sizable cache of weapons and food during the search operation that followed the encounter, which continued until Thursday, proving the infiltrators were Pakistanis and had come prepared for a lengthy journey inside Indian territory.The recoveries include an AK-47, four AK-47 magazines, one pistol with two magazines, 44 pistol rounds, grenades, a binocular with night vision device, a rain jacket, a pair each of shoes and gloves, two trousers and jackets each, a windcheater, two shawls, a body warmer and and two mufflers, several pairs of socks, rucksacks, walking sticks, a syringe, batteries, wire-cutters, watch, knife, lighters, bandages; several medicines, one bed rope and two blank diaries. According to Colonel Bartwal, the encounter site also yielded a number of pharmaceuticals and food items made in Pakistan, including apples, dates, salt, namkeens, almonds, cookies, parathas, and chutney.
