The Jammu Kashmir (J&K) police intensified search operations around Sidhra due to the possibility of more terrorists hiding there. The search was conducted following a confrontation on December 28 in which four terrorists were down by security personnel, news agency ANI reported on Saturday quoting a senior police officer.
"We have intensified the search operation because of the possibility of terrorists hiding in the area," GR Bhardwaj, Deputy Superintendent, Special Operations Group, Jammu and Kashmir Police was quoted as saying by ANI.
An encounter between security forces and two to three terrorists broke earlier this week on Wednesday on the Panjtirthi-Sidhra road in Jammu, prompting further reinforcement to be rushed to the scene. There was a grenade burst, which was followed by a gunfight.
According to Mukesh Singh, additional director general of police, the truck driver fled the scene. We noticed an unusual movement of a truck and followed it. The truck was stopped at Sidhra in Jammu where the driver managed to flee. When the truck was searched terrorists hiding inside, fired on the personnel. The retaliatory firing was done,” Singh claimed, as per a report by The Hindustan Times.
The confrontation occurred after police defused a 15-kilogram improvised explosive device (IED) seized in Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur area on Monday, avoiding a major terror plot. According to officials, one coded sheet and one letter pad page from the outlawed terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were also found, and a suspect has been detained.
In November, Jammu and Kashmir police and security forces recovered one AK-47 rifle, one AK-56 rifle, four AK series magazines, live rounds, RDX powder, nails & ball bearings, 9-volt batteries, detonators, IED mechanism circuit, remote control, loose wire, and iron pipes in a joint operation, and arrested two active LeT terrorists and two associates, including a woman, at Bandipora in Jammu and Kashmir.
(With Inputs From Agencies)