Kathua Encounter: Missing Cop Found Dead; Toll Rises to 4; Three Ultras Also Killed
Heavy firing and deafening sounds of explosions continued for the second day
Srinagar: As the security forces resumed anti-terror operations in woods outside the Safiyan village in Jammu and Kashmir’s frontier Kathua district at daybreak on Friday after the night halt, a policeman who had gone missing during a deadly firefight with a heavily armed group of militants the previous day was found dead.
His bullet-riddled corpse was spotted lying at the encounter site through an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). With his killing the death toll among the policemen has risen to four, whereas seven security personnel including a deputy superintendent of police have been injured.
The security forces had during the daylong gun battle on Thursday neutralised three militants believed to be the members of proscribed Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM). After the initial brief exchange between the two sides that took place on Wednesday evening, a fierce gun fight broke out in the wooded area at around 8 am on Thursday. The security forces had moved in the area based on specific input about the presence of gunmen there.
Sounds of strong explosions and heavy firing continued to be heard from around the Safiyan village on the second day running on Friday. Unofficial reports suggest that three to four more militants are trapped in the wooded area and the security forces were moving from different directions to take on them.
Amid intensified operations led by the J&K police’s counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG), the men from Rising Star Corps of the Army’s Western Command and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) had joined the operation against a group of militants believed to had sneaked into J&K from Pakistan after breaching the International Border (IB) on Wednesday evening.
Later the Army's special PARA forces, Border Security Force (BSF) and National Security Guards commandos also joined the operation and Army helicopters, camera-fitted drones, UAVs, sniffer dogs and bulletproof vehicles were pressed into service to take on the heavily armed militants.
J&K’s Director General of Police, Nalin Prabhat, and Inspector General of Police (Jammu Zone) Bhim Sen Tuti have been overseeing the anti-terror operations in the Kathua areas for the past four days, the officials said.
The People’s Anti-Fascist Front, which the police believe is a proxy outfit of Pakistan-based JeM, has claimed responsibility for the encounter outside Safiyan village.
J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday paid rich tributes to the police personnel who laid down their lives while fighting the militants in the ongoing encounter.
“I bow to the valorous martyrs of J&K Police, who laid down their lives for our motherland. My deepest condolences to their families,” Mr. Sinha said in a statement issued in Jammu. He added, “My deepest condolences to their families. In ongoing Kathua encounter several terrorists were neutralised. J&K Police & Security Forces are on the job. Operation in progress”.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said, “Pride and grief intertwine as we remember Balwinder Singh Chib, Jaswant Singh, and Tariq Ahmed, who laid down their lives during an anti-terror operation in Kathua, Jammu & Kashmir.” The Chief Minister offered his heartfelt condolences to the families of slain policemen and said, “Their sacrifice in the line of duty will always be remembered. May the departed souls rest in peace, and heartfelt prayers for the swift recovery of those injured.”
On the evening of March 23, a group of local women had alerted the authorities about the presence of five armed men in the woods of Sanyal, located about 5 km from the International Border (IB) with Pakistan, and thirty kilometres from the place where the encounter is underway. The SOG, along with the Army and the CRPF, quickly launched a cordon-and-search operation.
On March 24, the security forces had found four loaded magazines of M4 carbine, two grenades, a bulletproof jacket, sleeping bags, tracksuits, several packets of eatables and separate polythene bags containing material for making improvised explosive devices near the scene of the encounter in the Sanyal woods.
Despite a massive search operation, the militants reportedly managed to escape the security dragnet. It is believed that the same group of militants is engaged in the gun battle with the security forces outside the Safiyan village.