Jammu: The four recent encounters in Kathua district “exposed” the route used by terrorists to infiltrate into India from across the International Border (IB), a senior police officer said on Wednesday.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Kathua, Shobhit Saxena also said the successful recovery of huge quantities of arms and ammunition including explosives from the terrorists after the gunfights scuttled a major plan of the terror groups to carry out a major strike in Jammu and Kashmir.
Kathua district witnessed four encounters between a group of recently infiltrated terrorists and security forces in the past one month.
Two heavily-armed terrorists were eliminated in Safiyan forest on March 27. Four police personnel were killed in the encounter which took place four days after police intercepted the infiltrating terrorists in Saniyal forest of Hiranagar sector.
“We are chasing the remaining three to four terrorists who escaped the encounters and are on the run. We are confident of tracking and neutralizing them soon,” the SSP told reporters at Rajbagh police station, where all the seized material including sophisticated weapons, explosives and daily-use items was on display.
He said a tight security grid is in place in the district, from the border villages to hinterland, leading to the successful operations against the terrorists.
“The encounters exposed their traditional (infiltration) route… We will not allow them to use this route again,” Saxena said.
He said the recoveries showed that they had come with ill intention and were prepared for a long stay.
He said the seizure of a huge quantity of explosive material thwarted their plan to carry out Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) blasts, while some quantity of heroin suggested that they were also consuming drugs.
He praised the cooperation of the people in the anti-terrorist operations and said the “civil population helped us a lot and are providing immediate information which helped us to make an assessment about the terrorists on the run and are accordingly planning our operations to neutralize them”.
According to evidence, Saxena said terrorists had recently sneaked into this side from across the border but police “did not allow them to succeed in their nefarious designs”.
On local support to terrorists, he said 30 people have been identified and booked under Public Safety Act (PSA) in the district so far.
Among the material seized from the terrorists include two AK assault rifles, one M4 carbine, grenades, and sophisticated gadgets for navigation, clothes, sleeping bags, Pakistan-make medicines, beverages and food items.
