The Jammu and Kashmir Police released sketches of four terrorists who were last seen in Dhoks of Malhar, Bani and Seojdhar of Kathua district. The police also announced Rupees 5 lakh reward for information about them.
In a post on social media platform X, Police said “Kathua Police releases sketches of 04 terrorists who were last seen in Dhoks of Malhar, Bani & Seojdhar. A reward of 05lakhs on each terrorist for an actionable information. Anyone with credible information of terrorists will also be suitably rewarded”.
This comes against the backdrop of the recent terror attacks in the Jammu region, including the terror attack at the army convoy in Kathua and encounters in Doda and Udhampur, which are in the Jammu region.
Earlier on August 7, after an exchange of fire with terrorists on the evening of August 6, a search operation was launched by security forces in the Khaneed Area of Basantgarh in the Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir. After receiving input regarding suspicious movement in the area, a SADO (search and destroy operation) was launched on August 6.
Contact has been established with a group of terrorists in the Khaned area of Police Station Basantgarh in Udhampur District. DIG Udhampur Reasi Range Rayees Mohammad Bhat said, “For the last three to four days, we have been tracking the movement of terrorists in the Khaneed area of Basantgarh of Udhampur district. Yesterday, after specific input was gleaned regarding the movement of terrorists in the area, a SADO was launched in the wee hours by our parties.”
“After around 4:30 pm, our contact was established with a group of terrorists yesterday and within two hours, the contact was established twice. A group of terrorists is present under our cordon and that is the reason we are conducting the second day of the search operation today. Our CRPF, police and Army are consistently present here. The group consists of three to four terrorists whom we are trying to neutralise as soon as possible,” the DIG Udhampur Reasi Range stated further.
Elaborating on the geographical conditions of the area, he said, “This area has hilly terrain and dense coniferous forests. The weather these days is also cloudy and rainy. The conditions are foggy, which is why our visibility is limited.”
Meanwhile, on August 6, Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said that there have been two terrorist attacks on pilgrims and 14 casualties were reported during the past five years in the country.
In a reply to the question raised by Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee in Lok Sabha, MoS Rai said that the central government framed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and also implemented them, in particular, for the safety/security of pilgrims in Jammu and Kashmir. He added that adequate security arrangements in coordination with all security agencies have been put in place for the safety of pilgrims.
