Srinagar: For the third consecutive day on Sunday, the Halan Kulgam operation continued with intensified searches and surveillance to locate the hiding terrorists.
The encounter started on Friday evening based on specific information about the presence of terrorists in the Halan forest area.
This was a joint operation conducted by the Police and Army.
“The operation continues and searches by the joint parties have been intensified,” a senior Police officer posted in south Kashmir said.
He said that the forests of the area were dense and combing operations were being carried out cautiously.
“We have also intensified aerial surveillance in the area and dog squads to locate hiding terrorists have also been pressed into service,” the officer said.
On Friday, as the troops zeroed in on the terrorists, they came under heavy firing. Three Army soldiers were killed in the encounter.
The Army had informed about the killing of soldiers in the line of duty in the Halan encounter last night.
“On specific inputs regarding the presence of terrorists in the higher reaches of Halan in Kulgam, an operation was launched by the security forces on Friday. In exchange of firing with terrorists, three personnel sustained injuries and later succumbed. Search operations are continuing,” Chinar Corps-Indian Army tweeted.
“The operation is on and massive combing of forests is underway,” Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Kashmir, Vijay Kumar earlier told Greater Kashmir. “There are dense forests and the terrain is rugged.”
Reliable sources in the defence establishment had told Greater Kashmir that more troops that include paratroopers had been inducted to take on the terrorists.
They said since last evening there had been no fresh contact between the security forces and the terrorists.
“Operation has also been launched from Shopian side,” a senior security force official had said. “Exit and entrance points have been blocked.”
Besides, more reinforcement and aerial surveillance had been intensified.
“Drones have been pressed into service to locate hiding terrorists,” they had said, adding that senior officers of J&K Police and Army are supervising the operation.
In April and May, 10 Army soldiers including five elite commandos were killed in two separate attacks and encounters in Poonch and Rajouri districts of Pir Panjal region - an area considered free from terrorism for nearly two decades.
Official data for the last three years suggest that of the 251 ‘terrorist-initiated’ incidents in J&K between January 2021 and May 30 this year, 15 were in the three districts of Jammu region and 236 in Kashmir.
