Around 30 Pakistani Terrorists suspected to be active in Rajouri-Poonch sector: Defence Sources
Security experts call for strengthening of intelligence network, LoC management
POONCH/JAMMU, Dec 22: Security forces Friday launched a massive cordon and search operation in the forest area of Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district and a National Investigation Agency team also visited there, a day after five army personnel were martyred and two others injured in a terrorist attack.
The General officer Commanding (GoC), XVI corps, Lt Gen Sandeep Jain visited Ground Zero and reviewed the situation with top army and police officers, officials said.
“Indian Army and White knight Corps salutes the bravery and supreme sacrifice of four soldiers in Surankote yesterday while fighting the scourge of terrorism”, White Knight Corps, or XVI corps, wrote on X.
An official said aerial monitoring using helicopters is also being conducted and sniffer dogs have been pressed into service to track down the terrorists who ambushed two Army vehicles in the area Thursday afternoon.
“A massive cordon and search operation has begun this morning after a night cordon in the area,” an officer said. The operation was still going on.
He said that additional troops have been inducted into the area to track down the terrorists involved in the firing.
The officer quoted above said the Dhera Ki Gali (DKG) Road has been closed for traffic. Top officials of the army and police are monitoring the situation at the ground.
The heavily-armed terrorists, believed to be three to four in number, initially took position on hill tops and chose a blind curve to target the army vehicles.
After the attack, they reportedly mutilated the bodies of at least two soldiers and took weapons from some of them, officials said. The security officials said that investigation of the site is being carried out to know the pattern and use of weapons including steel core bullets in the ambush.
The defence sources said that Pakistan is trying to revive terrorism in the Rajouri-Poonch sector as around 25-30 Pakistani terrorists are suspected to be hiding in the forest areas of the region.
The sources said the plan to revive terrorist activities in the area is part of a greater game plan by Pakistan and China to pressurise the Indian Army to remove troops from the Ladakh sector and redeploy forces in this area.
“There is a larger game plan by the Pakistan-China nexus to not allow India to ease out of the Jammu and Kashmir sector and deploy troops on the China border, especially in the Ladakh sector, where the PLA and Indian forces have been in a standoff for the last three years now,” they said.
Sources said that around 25-30 Pakistani terrorists have been hiding in the upper reaches of the Poonch Rajouri sector in a forested area to launch attacks on security forces.
Over the last years since the Uniform Force left for Ladakh operations, Pakistan has started sending its own terrorists from Pakistan to the area to carry out attacks against Indian troops in an attempt to force India to redeploy its own troops in the area.
The Indian Army had recently moved in one more brigade to counter terrorist activities and has achieved success in the area.
Security and defence experts have called for immediate strengthening of the security management and intelligence network along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu region.
Lt Gen Paramjit Singh (Retd), who headed the Nagrota-based XVI corps of the army, acknowledged that the terrain where the incident took place is a difficult one. “But having said that, one needs to be prepared for all eventualities,” he said.
He said it was time for the top brass in the corps to go back to the drawing board and analyse the continuous “reverses” being witnessed in the area.
“This area also has an unholy nexus between smugglers, drug cartels and people in the system. There is an urgent need to break the backbone of this,” Lt Gen Singh, who was one of the army officials involved in the Balakote strike in 2019, said.
Expressing concern over the terror incidents, defence expert Col (retd) S S Pathania said, “It is the second incident in the last two months. This region was peaceful until two years ago. In the last two years, 24 soldiers were martyred here. Why is it happening? Why have terrorists been so emboldened?”.
He said focus should be laid on strengthening LoC management and intelligence network. “The LoC security management should be foolproof and the intelligence network should be strengthened,” he said.
