Srinagar: Indian Army special forces and other fully equipped security forces early Tuesday moved in a dense forest area of Jammu and Kashmir’s frontier district of Kathua to chase terrorists involved in previous day’s ambush on an Army infantry combat vehicle that killed five soldiers and injured five others.
The ground forces are being supported by Army combat helicopters Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) surveillance. Within a couple of hours of the deadly attack outside Badnote village, 152-km away from the Kathua town, the Army had airdropped the men of its Parachute Regiment (Special Forces), commonly referred to as Para (SF), in the Mandli sub-sector which falls in proximity to the place where the attack took place.
The Army alongside the J&K police and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) had earlier encircled the woods for a massive Cordon-and-Search-Operation (CASO) to take on the assailants who had after targeting the Army vehicle with grenades and assault rifles scampered towards the forest area to escape retaliation. The ground search teams are also using sniffer dogs and metal detectors to track down the terrorists as quickly as possible, reports said.
A police official who spoke to this newspaper on condition of anonymity said that an intense chase in the woods is underway and that “we are hopeful that we will hunt them down soon”.
J&K DGP Rashmi Ranjan Swain flew in the area to oversee the operation. He is being accompanied by Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Vijay Kumar and ADGP Jammu range Anand Jain. Senior Army and CRPF officers too reached the area early Tuesday to review the ongoing operation.
The officials said that the search operation which had started immediately after the deadly ambush was suspended late in the evening owing to heavy rains. “The operation was resumed at the first light on Tuesday and intensified with the arrival of the special forces and highly trained members of the J&K police’s counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) and fully equipped teams of the CRPF and other CAPFs along with sniffer dogs, drones and combat helicopters,” the officials said.
Meanwhile, the Jammu area on Tuesday witnessed street protests by the activists of various mainstream political parties and also by the lawyers’ association to condemn the terror attack. The protesters chanted anti-Pakistan slogans and, at a few places, burned the neighbouring country’s national flag to vent their anger.
The Jammu Bar Association members led by its president Vikam Sharma while holding a protest demonstration in the high court complex in Jammu city blamed Pakistan for the escalation in separatist violence in the Jammu region. They termed Monday’s deadly attack on the Army patrolling party as an act of cowardice by Pakistan-sponsored-terrorists and chanted anti-Pakistan slogans. “It is an act of cowardice by Pakistan-backed terrorists. Pakistan continues to sponsor terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan indulges in such cowardly attacks through terrorists as it cannot confront India directly,” Mr. Sharma told reporters.
In Srinagar, former chief minister and National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah said that the terror attack in Kathua is alarming but the J&K administration seems to be closing itself off from the ground realities. “It is very unfortunate. I think no criticism of this attack is strong enough. To lose five brave army soldiers in the line of duty in one attack is something we should all be alarmed by,” he said.
Mr. Abdullah added that militancy continues to be a problem but, unfortunately, the government is adopting an ostrich approach and burying its head in the sand in the face of the challenging situation. “You cannot wish the problem away. Apparently, this government has convinced itself that somehow August 5, 2019 is the solution to all the problems, including violence and terror, but clearly that’s not the case. I think the J&K administration needs to be more vigilant. I think they are showing rather lax tendency with regard to the security situation,” he said.
When asked if the recent spurt in terror attacks, especially in Jammu region, will leave an impact on the conduct of Assembly elections in J&K, Mr. Abdullah said, “The Assembly elections are a matter of Supreme Court order and I do not believe that the security situation is so bad that elections cannot take place. We have had elections in 1996; we have had elections to parliament in 1998 and 1999 when I believe the situation was much worse. So, unless the government is ready to accept that the situation here today is worse than it was in 1996, I think elections must go ahead.”
Meanwhile, an encounter broke out between security forces and militants in a remote forest area in J&K’s eastern Doda district on Tuesday afternoon, officials said. They added that the clash began after the security forces launched a CASO in the hilly region’s Ghadi Bhagwah forest area on receiving information about the presence of militants there.
