Inspector General of Police (IGP) Jammu Mukesh Singh on Thursday said militants killed in a gunfight with the security forces in Nagrota area of Jammu were planning a big strike in Kashmir.
“The cache of weapons that the militants were carrying signifies that they were about to execute a big plan in the valley,” Singh said during a press conference in Jammu.
Singh said they recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition from the militants after several years.
“We have recovered 11 AK47 rifles, 3 pistols, 29 grenades, 6 under barrel grenade launchers (UBGL), mobile phones, compass and several bullet proof pouches,” said the IGP.
He said the truck in which the militants were travelling was on its way to Kashmir. “It was stopped at 5:00 am at a checkpoint near Ban toll plaza Nagrota. The hiding militants opened a heavy volume of fire and lobbed many grenades at the security forces,” Singh said, adding, “the driver of the truck managed to flee from the spot.”
He said the security forces retaliated. “Two police constables received injuries during the encounter but are out of danger now.”
He said they have been receiving inputs about a possible infiltration since the announcement of District Development Council (DDC) polls. “But we are yet to confirm whether this was a post-infiltration attack,” he said.
The Jammu police chief said the identity of the all the four militants killed is yet to be ascertained but may be associated with the militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).
“The search operation is still underway at the site,” he said, adding: “the traffic on the highway would be resumed only after the area is fully checked.”