Sniffer dogs were pressed into service as a massive search operation to track down militants in a forest area of Kishtwar district continued for the second day on Saturday, officials said.
The Army and police had launched a search operation in theforest area near Keshwan village early on Friday following information aboutthe movement of suspected militants. A brief gunfight took place between themilitants and the search parties on Friday and it is believed that one of themgot injured, but managed to flee along with his accomplices deep inside thedense forest, officials said.
Blood stains were spotted near the scene of the gunfight.The search operation is on and sniffer dogs were pressed into service to trackdown the militants, officials said.
On May 31, two special police officers were injured in anencounter with militants in Appan area of Marwah belt in the district. Themilitants managed their escaped after the encounter.Kishtwar, which was declared militancy-free overa decade ago, was rattled by the killing of state Bharatiya Janata Partysecretary Anil Parihar and his brother Ajeet Parihar on November 1, followed bykilling of senior RSS leader Chanderkant Sharma and his security guard inside ahealth centre on April 9.