Search in J&K's Kathua after local spots suspected terrorists

JAMMU: Security forces launched a manhunt Sunday after a resident reported spotting three suspected terrorists with backpacks moving toward a forest in Rasana village of J&K’s Kathua district around 3.30am, officials said.

Police said the man was on his way to a temple when he noticed the movement and alerted authorities. A joint team of police, Army, and CRPF cordoned off the area and began a search.

In Poonch district, a counter-terrorism operation entered its sixth day as the Army and J&K police SOG pressed on with their hunt for terrorists believed to be hiding in forested terrain near the border village of Lasana. The operation began last Tuesday following a brief gunfight the previous night.

The wider security crackdown in Kathua-Samba region also remains underway. Forces are combing the Samba sector near the Pakistan border to track down terrorists linked to a March 23 shootout in Sufain forests, where a group of foreign gunmen initially escaped a security cordon. A renewed contact on March 27 resulted in a gunfight that killed four policemen and two terrorists.

Since then, the operation has spread to Udhampur, Kishtwar, and Doda. Three terrorists affiliated with Pakistan-backed banned group Jaish-e-Mohammed were killed during a shootout in Naidgam area of Kishtwar on April 9.