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Jammu: Two more jawans, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), were killed in a massive search operation to nab terrorists for the sixth day on Saturday in the forest areas of the border districts of Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir. Officials gave this information.
With the fresh killings, a total of Navy personnel, including two JCOs, laid down their lives in a counter-insurgency operation that began in Poonch’s Surankote forests on Monday and later spread to Thanamandi near Rajouri and Mendhar in Poonch.
The bodies of the JCO and the jawan were recovered on Thursday near the site of an encounter with terrorists in Mendhar’s Nar Khas forest, taking the number of Army personnel killed in the operation to four, officials said. Both Uttarakhand’s Riflemen Vikram Singh Negi and Yogmber Singh had already died.
A defense spokesperson identified the JCOs as Ajay Singh and another soldier Naik Harendra Singh and said they were part of a search operation launched by security forces on Thursday to flush out terrorists hiding in the dense forests.
After fierce exchange of fire with the terrorists, communication with both the soldiers was disrupted. The spokesman said that continuous operation is on to neutralize the terrorists and restore communication with them.
Earlier on October 11, five Army personnel, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), were killed in an attack by terrorists on a search party in Poonch’s Surankote forest. On the same day, another exchange of fire broke out between the search parties of the army and the fleeing terrorists in Thanamandi forest of Rajouri, but the militants managed to escape.
Vivek Gupta, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Rajouri-Poonch range told reporters that two-and-a-half months ago the presence of terrorists was noticed in the forest area connecting Poonch and Rajouri and accordingly a tactical operation was launched to nab them.
He said that the area is hilly and the forest is dense, which makes the operation difficult and dangerous.
The joint security grid was tracking various groups of terrorists, but operations take time depending on the topography of the area. Based on intelligence inputs, contact with terrorists was established on three occasions this week, the official said.
Read also: Another Bihari vendor shot dead in Srinagar
Gupta said that the forest area is being cleared and a clear picture will emerge after the operation is completed.
He said the terrorists are in hiding and the joint forces are working as per the standard operating procedure to take the operation to its logical conclusion.
However, he did not reveal the number of terrorists hiding in the forest area. We have numbers and we have strategized accordingly.
Intermittent gunshots were heard throughout the day after joint search teams of Army and police resumed operations in Mendhar area of Poonch, officials said.
He said the entire forest area from Mendhar to Thanamandi has been kept under tight cordon and a massive search operation is on to neutralize the terrorists moving from one place to another in an attempt to escape the trap.
Officials said the army has already deployed para commandos and a helicopter was also seen hovering over the forest area for surveillance.
He said the traffic on the Jammu-Rajouri highway remained disrupted for the second day due to the ongoing operation between Mendhar and Thanamandi.
Infiltration attempts in Jammu region’s Rajouri and Poonch have increased since June this year, resulting in the killing of nine terrorists in separate encounters.
Earlier in the day, a defense spokesperson said the bodies of Riflemen Negi and Singh were brought to Uttarakhand by a service aircraft on Saturday morning after a wreath-laying ceremony.
He told that the plane will reach Jolly Grant airport in Dehradun at 11.30 am.
The mortal remains of the jawans would be taken to their hometowns by road from the airport and they would be cremated with full military honours, the spokesman said.
Read also: Two terrorists including Lashkar commander killed in encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama
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