Carbine magazines, grenades seized as security forces intensify anti-terror operation in Kathua

Jammu, Mar 24 (PTI) A cache of incriminating material, including several loaded magazines of M4 carbine assault rifles and a couple of grenades, were seized as security forces intensified their search to neutralise a group of infiltrating terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district on Monday, officials said.

The operation, personally led by Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat, was launched on Sunday evening in the Hiranagar sector. It was intensified with additional deployment of commandos, drones and sniffer dogs on Monday morning, they said.

An army helicopter was also seen hovering over the area later in the day.

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 of Sanyal village, approximately five kilometres from the Pakistan border, the officials said.

The terrorists launched a barrage of fire at the police party, leading to an intense gunfight that lasted more than half an hour, they said.

A seven-year-old girl suffered minor injuries when a stray bullet passed close to her arm. She was admitted to a local hospital.

Reinforcements were swiftly dispatched and a manhunt was launched to apprehend the terrorists, believed to have infiltrated on Saturday either via the ravine route or through a new tunnel.

There was no report of casualties in the initial firing and the area was kept under a tight security cordon throughout the night before the forces moved in at the crack of dawn, the officials said.

Though there has been no fresh contact with the terrorists, the search parties found four loaded magazines of M4 carbine assault rifles, two grenades, a bulletproof jacket, 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.

Police chief Prabhat, who rushed to the spot immediately after getting information about the presence of the terrorists, was seen leading from the front deep inside the forested area this afternoon.

Holding an AK assault rifle, he was seen directing the operation from the ground.

One input suggested that two groups of at least five terrorists each had infiltrated.

Local villagers, meanwhile, organised a community kitchen for reporters and the security personnel at the outer cordon.

According to the officials, some village women collecting firewood reported seeing around five terrorists who had sought refuge in the expansive nursery area.

Anita Devi, a 48-year-old villager, 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 close. But my husband signalled me to run and I ran. One of the terrorists tried to stop me but I started shouting, attracting the attention of two more people who were cutting grass,” she told PTI.

She said the incident occurred around 4:30 pm on Sunday and they all returned home and informed the police. They had beards and were wearing commando uniform, Anita Devi said.

District Development Councillor Karan Kumar also said heavy gunfire was heard in the region.

“An atmosphere of fear has gripped the village by the presence of the terrorists. We heard around 250 rounds of gunfire,” Kumar said, adding security forces had 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.

After carrying out deadly attacks in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch over the past four years, terror activities spread to six other districts in the Jammu region in 2024, leaving 44 people, including 18 security personnel and 13 terrorists, dead.

Though the Pir Panjal districts of Rajouri and Poonch witnessed a considerable drop in terror activity in 2024 compared to previous years, the series of incidents in Reasi, Doda, Kishtwar, Kathua, Udhampur and Jammu from April-May last year became a concern for security agencies.

According to official data, nine people were killed in Doda, Kathua and Reasi districts, five in Kishtwar, four in Udhampur, three each in Jammu and Rajouri, and two in Poonch in 2024.

This year, Kathua was rocked by protests after the mysterious death of five people in the remote Billawar tehsil.

The bodies of 15-year-old Varun Singh, his paternal uncle Yogesh Singh (32) and maternal uncle Darshan Singh (40) were found in the Ishu nullah in the remote Malhar area in the higher reaches of Kathua on March 8. They had gone missing on March 5 while attending a wedding.

On February 16, Shamsher (37) and Roshan (45) were found dead in the Kohag village of Billawar. Their post-mortem revealed they were strangled.