Neyaz Elahi
Poonch (NVI): Two militants were killed while their associate was arrested during an encounter with security forces in Chatta-Pani area along Mughal Road in Jammu’s Poonch district today.
Inspector General of Police, Jammu Zone, Mukesh Kumar said the encounter took place in Dugran -Poshana Chatta-Pani area that falls under the jurisdiction of police station Sarankote in Poonch.
Official sources said that a combing operation is underway in the area while the firing has been stopped. “Before calling off operation, we want to ensure that no militants are present in the area. It was a tough operation due to snowy area,” said an official.
Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbah Singh said that these militants had recently infiltrated into this part of Kashmir and were on way to Shopian district of South Kashmir. “We had received the information about their presence on Friday but due to difficult terrain and snow, the contact with these militants was not established. Today a contact was established,” Singh said.
The 84-kilometre historic Mughal Road is between Bufliaz, a town in the Poonch district, and the Shopian district of South Kashmir.
A couple of days ago, joint forces had busted a militant hideout in the upper forest belt of Herpora area in Shopian along the Mughal Road. An official said that since the busting of the hideout, intensive search operations were launched in different parts of the road by security forces including soldiers from 16 Rashtriya Rifles and today. A contact with militants was established in Dugran-Poshana Chatta-Pani area that falls under the jurisdiction of police station Sarankote in Poonch.
A police official told NVI that trapped militants declined the offer to surrender. “An offer to surrender was given to the trapped militants, which they declined. Reinforcement has been called in to neutralise these militants,” he said adding the inputs suggest that two among the three militants were non-locals.
-ARK
