KATHUA, March 31 – Security forces in India’s Jammu and Kashmir have intensified search operations using aerial surveillance and sniffer dogs after reports of suspected militant movement in Kathua district, officials said on Monday.
Three militants, believed to have escaped a recent gunfight, were reportedly seen in the area, prompting security agencies to impose a night-long cordon before launching fresh operations in the Ghati-Juthana forest region.
A gun battle in the remote Sanyal belt on March 27 left two militants and four policemen dead, with three others, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), injured. The bodies of three additional policemen were recovered on March 28 and 29. The People’s Anti-Fascist Front, a shadow outfit of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Security forces, including the Indian Army, police, National Security Guard (NSG), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and Border Security Force (BSF), are conducting multi-tier combing operations in the forested areas of Rui, Juthana, Ghati, and Sanyal in the Rajbagh region. A search operation has also been launched in the Samba sector near the international border, with the entire border belt on high alert.
On Sunday night, three militants reportedly entered a house in Rui village, several kilometers from the encounter site, and took food from an elderly woman’s kitchen. “They asked for water, and I went into another room out of fear. Before leaving, they took rotis and sabzi and even offered me money, which I refused,” she told reporters.
Authorities have detained six individuals, including women from the family of Mohammad Latief, an alleged overground worker (OGW) jailed under the Public Safety Act (PSA) for aiding militants in a 2024 attack on an army truck that killed six soldiers. Officials believe one of the slain militants, Abu Tala, had previously taken shelter at Latief’s home.
Police have questioned more than two dozen people and are tracking a group of militants intercepted on March 23 in a ‘dhok’ (enclosure) in Sanyal village near the Pakistan border. The ensuing gunfight on March 27 led to casualties on both sides.
Security officials warn that militants rely on networks of overground workers for food, shelter, and escape routes. Efforts to dismantle these networks continue as the search for the fugitives intensifies.
(Inputs from news agency)
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The Chenab Times News Desk
