Jammu: In a major success to security forces, a truck carrying four terrorists to Kashmir was blown to flames in Jammu on Wednesday with one of the terrorists believed to be wanted Jaishe-e-Muhammad (JeM) terrorist Ashiq Nengroo while investigations are on to ascertain the exact identity.
Foiling a major terrorist movement on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, Police and Army killed the four heavily-armed terrorists in a gunfight at a Police checkpoint in Sidhra area of Jammu.
Speaking to media persons, ADGP Jammu Zone, Mukesh Singh said that the gunfight broke out at 7:25 am when the QRT team of J&K Police stopped a truck loaded with dry fodder at a checkpoint in Sidhra, Jammu.
“In view of the Republic Day, we had alerted the border security grid and Wednesday morning, the highway QRT spotted an unusual movement of a truck on the highway as truck movement usually happens after 12 noon,” he said.
Singh said that when the truck reached Sidhra checkpoint, Police stopped it for checking but the driver escaped on an excuse of attending nature’s call.
As soon as he escaped, the Police team became suspicious and started checking the truck.
“During the search of the truck, the hiding terrorists inside the truck opened heavy fire at the joint search team of the Army and J&K Police that was retaliated, triggering a gunfight,” he said.
Singh said the vehicular traffic towards Sidhra was immediately stopped while security forces launched a counter-terrorism operation.
“Four terrorists were killed in the gunfight and seven AK-47 rifles, one M4 rifle, 3 pistols, 11 magazines, 14 grenades, other ammunition, pouches, and Rs 50,000 cash were recovered,” he said.
Singh said that during the gunfight the truck was completely damaged and fire fighters were called in to douse the flames.
He said that the truck owner was yet to be identified and that the truck was going from Jammu to Srinagar.
“Searches are still on to apprehend the absconding truck driver,” Singh said.
He said that the number plate of the truck had been found to be fake.
“The engine and chassis number of the truck have also been found to have been tampered and a forensic team’s help will be sought in this regard,” Singh said.
“We have alerted all the police stations and search operations are being conducted at bus stands, railway stations, market places, and all checkpoints have been alerted. The scrutiny of the seized items is being done to obtain clues about the identity of the killed terrorists and the driver,” he said. “Other scientific and electronic evidence are being collected to identify the terror group to which the terrorists belonged and to identify the Over Ground Worker (OGW) support structure of these terrorists.”
Singh said that the Police was not aware of the terrorist group the terrorists belonged to or whether they came from the border or not.
On whether the terrorists were heading to carry out a terror act, he said, “Ten days back, some weapons were recovered from the Narwal area which had put us on alert in the run up to January 26 functions. Generally, the border grid has been strengthened and the security forces’ camps have been made more secure.”
Besides, an alert was sounded on the Srinagar-Jammu and Jammu-Pathankot highway and checking of vehicles was intensified especially in Jammu and Udhampur.