Jammu: Amid heightened security measures ahead of Independence Day celebrations, security forces on Monday launched a cordon-and-search operation covering several villages in Jammu and Kashmir’s Samba district following information about suspicious movement of two people, officials said.
A search operation is also going on in the forest belts of Thanamandi and Sunderbani in the border district of Rajouri and parts of nearby Poonch district, they said.
The officials said joint parties of the police and the Army cordoned off the Maheshwar area of Samba along the Jammu-Pathankot highway after getting the information of suspected movement in Katli and Guwal villages in the early hours of the day.
A cordon was laid around the Maheshwar area and a search operation is underway, they said, adding that nothing objectionable has been found so far.
On Friday, the security forces recovered two pistols, five magazines, 122 rounds and a silencer in a joint operation in Sarthian village of Rajpura in the district.
The officials said a massive search operation entered the fourth day in the forest belt of Thanamandi in Rajouri district, where two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants were killed in an encounter by the security forces last week.
“The operation was continuing in remote Pangai and adjoining villages, but there was no fresh contact with the suspected terrorists,” they said.
The operation was launched in the Thanamandi area on Friday, “following information about the presence of three to four terrorists.”
The officials said security forces are also combing the forests near the Line of Control (LoC) in Sunderbani and Nowshera areas of the district.
Four militants were killed in two separate encounters in Sunderbani and Nowshera when the Army foiled their infiltration bid in July. Two soldiers were also killed in these encounters.
Security has been beefed up across Jammu ahead of the Independence Day in view of a spurt in drone activities from across the border to smuggle weapons and narcotics, besides the bombing of the Indian Air Force (IAF) station Jammu on June 27.
Last week, Additional Director General of Police, Jammu zone, Mukesh Singh chaired a high-level meeting to discuss the overall security scenario with focus on the Independence day functions on August 15.
