Amir Tantray
Doda, Jun 26: Security forces achieved a major success on Wednesday when they eliminated all the three terrorists trapped in a hideout in Sinno forests of Gundoh area of Doda district in a day-long encounter.
The operation was launched in the wee hours by Special Operation Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir and Indian Army in Sinoo forests after receiving credible inputs about the presence of terrorists in the area.
The operation was supervised by Additional Director General of Police Jammu zone Anand Jain and he was also accompanied by Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Doda-Kishtwar-Ramban range Shridhar Patil and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Doda Javed Iqbal.
Earlier, ADGP Jammu zone in a statement to media had said that one terrorist was killed in the encounter. Later in the evening another statement was issued which read, “Two more terrorists have been neutralized in an ongoing joint operation in the Gundoh, Bhaderwah sector of district Doda. Arms and ammunition have been recovered from their possession.”
In a post on X, Indian Army’s 16 Corps wrote, “Op Lagor. After an intense firefight, three hardcore militants have been neutralized in a joint operation of #IndianArmy and #JKP. A large cache of warlike stores, including automatic assault rifles, has been recovered. Operation is currently in progress.”
Giving details, police informed that all the three militants have been eliminated by Wednesday evening whereas the combing operation was going on to sanitize the area and ensure nothing is left behind. The first militant was eliminated in the afternoon whereas the other two were killed in the afternoon when the hideout was blasted with mortal shells.
Sources said that the first terrorists was killed when he tried to come out of the hideout and escape the cordon. “The alert cops fired at him and killed him. The two hiding militants were not allowed to leave the hideout at any point of time,” a source said.
Security forces have recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition from the possession of killed militants which include one M4 carbine gun, two AK 47 rifles, bullets, pouches, grenades and other incriminating material.
The terrorists were hiding in a muddy house covered by trees and grass on a hill opposite Sinno village. Security forces had laid the cordon from all the sides and no chance was given to the hiding terrorists to flee again.
The security forces had also pressed helicopters into the service to drop para commandos in the area as the terrain is difficult with dense forests and hostile for smooth movement. More reinforcement of para commandos was pushed in from Udhampur through the road and they were taken to the encounter site to kill the hiding militants.
During the day, the rain also played a spoilsport during the fire fight but forces continued to move closer to the hideout and ensure that no hiding militant is allowed to flee from the cordon.
On June 12, security forces were able to establish a contact with the terrorists in Kota Top area of Tanta in Gundoh area and a J&K police constable was injured in the firefight. But the militants had managed to give a slip to the security forces and for the last 14 days the vigil and search operation was intensified in entire region areas and in the meantime arrested three people in connection with giving food and shelter to the militants, which proved beneficial in collecting the information about the militants.
Earlier today when the contact was established with terrorists and they were trapped inside a muddy house, SSP Doda Javed Iqbal said, “Encounter has started and a clear picture will emerge once the fire fight is over.”
This is the big victory for Doda police and Indian Army today as they were able to trace the militants within a fortnight and eliminate all of them. Whereas in Udhampur, Poonch and Reasi districts, security forces are still searching for the militants who are behind the killing of security forces and Shiv Khori pilgrims. The successful operation against terrorists in Doda comes a few days after DGP RR Swain told reporters in Jammu that police was not shying away from taking on the foreign terrorists in Jammu region and the force was ready to fire the first bullet and also bear some losses as well. The DGP also stated that in next three months, foreign terrorism will be wiped out from Jammu region with the active support of Central forces and locals.
