The operation to drive out terrorists entrenched up in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district's Gadole forest region reached its sixth day on Monday, with security forces utilising drones to locate the hideouts for carrying out assaults on the militants, news agency PTI reported. Union Territory Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has promised retaliation for the murders of three officers in the encounter. One burnt corpse was also retrieved earlier this morning. The body is believed to be that of a militant which has been sent for DNA testing. Sources stated that two more militants are believed to be still present.
According to authorities, drone footage revealed a burnt body laying near one of the hideouts demolished during the five-day anti-terror operation. They stated that any more information regarding it will be made public only after security officers sanitised the area.
Officials stated security forces are using drones and helicopters to monitor the dense forest area that includes multiple cave-like hideouts where terrorists have been believed to be huddled up since Wednesday after slaying two Army officers and a deputy superintendent of police in the initial exchange of fire.
On Sunday, the police perimeter was expanded to the adjoining Posh Kreeri neighbourhood as a precautionary step to ensure that terrorists do not enter civilian communities, they added.
The Lieutenant Governor, speaking at a gathering here late Sunday evening, said every drop of the martyrs' blood will be avenged, and terrorist controllers will pay a high price.
"We have complete faith in our soldiers... The entire nation stands in solidarity with the jawans," Sinha was quoted by PTI in its report.
He said that the attack on security personnel in Anantnag was motivated by the terrorists' dissatisfaction with the successful conduct of the G20 Summit and the crackdown on war profiteers in Jammu and Kashmir.
According to Sinha, the moment has come to put a stop to terrorism and the ecosystem that has oppressed the ordinary man in Jammu and Kashmir.
Top security authorities in Kashmir have been watching the operation, including the director general of police GP and the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Army's 15 Corps. On Saturday, the Northern Army commander went to the scene of the fighting to assess the operational situation.
The police suspect that two to three terrorists are stranded in the jungle.
Vijay Kumar, Additional Director General of Police (Kashmir), said late Friday night that the operation was initiated based on particular intelligence and that "two to three trapped terrorists will be neutralised." Terrorists assassinated Colonel Manpreet Singh, Commanding Officer of the 19 Rashtriya Rifles, Major Ashish Dhonchak, Deputy Superintendent of Jammu and Kashmir Police Humayun Bhat, and a soldier on Wednesday.