While the tourists camping in different parts of Kashmir valley were seen enjoying the fresh spell of snowfall at the picturesque ski resorts of Gulmarg, Pahalgam and other exotic locations it was business as usual for the men in uniform as they engaged two local terrorists in Okey village of Kulgam and later neutralised them during a brief encounter on Tuesday.
Around 42 flights from Srinagar Airport remained suspended due to inclement weather conditions. Snowfall was also recorded in the higher reaches of Doda, Kishtwar,Nathatop and Trikuta hills of Jammu region.
In the plain areas of Jammu region, the Border Security Force further intensified its patrolling drills with the advent of the foggy weather conditions.
The foot soldiers have been deployed in different sectors to physically dominate the vulnerable pockets in order to prevent infiltration bids from across the International border in Pakistan.
During winter season, after the snowfall in the higher reaches block several mountain passes the terrorist handlers activate launching pads in the Jammu region to push in small groups of terrorists and consignments of arms and ammunition. Inspector General of BSF, Jammu frontier DK Boora Monday said deployment of troops and surveillance systems have been “strengthened” along the border with Pakistan amid intelligence inputs of heightened activity at terrorist launch pads on the other side ahead of Republic Day.
He said, the alertness of troops deployed on the border led to the seizure amid heightened terrorist activity on the Pakistani side, Boora said, adding that Pakistan continues to make attempts to push terrorists and smuggle arms and narcotics into Jammu and Kashmir.
In Srinagar a police spokesman said, based on a specific intelligence input a joint cordon and search operation was launched by Police, 9RR and 18Bn CRPF in village Okey area of Kulgam,
During the search operation, as the joint search party proceeded towards the suspected spot, the hiding terrorists fired indiscriminately upon the joint search party which was retaliated effectively leading to an encounter.
In the ensuing encounter, two terrorists of proscribed terror outfit LeT (TRF) were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of the encounter. They have been identified as Amir Ahmad Wani resident of Alamgunj Shopian and Sameer Ahmad Khan resident of Tiken Pulwama.
As per police records, the killed terrorist Amir Ahmad was a categorized terrorist linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT (TRF), however the other killed terrorist joined terror folds recently. Both the killed terrorists were part of a group involved in several terror crime cases.
Incriminating materials arms & ammunition including 01 AK-47, 01 pistol were recovered from their possession, police spokesman added.
