Even as anti-terror operations have been intensified across the Kathua district to neutralise the group of Pakistani terrorists who have escaped death on three occasions in the last 10 days, tensions flared along the line of control (LoC) in the Krishna Ghati (KG) sector of Poonch following mysterious mine blasts and retaliatory firing on Tuesday afternoon.
It is feared that jawans of the Pakistani army manning some of the forward posts have suffered critical injuries as well.
No official statement was released by the Public Relations Officer, Ministry of Defence, in Jammu till late evening.
However, Ground reports claimed that soon after mine blasts rocked forward areas close to the line of control on Tuesday, alert troops of the Indian army resorted to retaliatory firing to check any suspicious movement from across the LoC.
Local villagers in Poonch, when contacted, claimed the firing was reported in the KG sector of Poonch after 1 pm. First, the mine blasts took place, and then after a gap of 20 to 30 minutes, the deafening sound of heavy gunfire rattled the entire border belt. According to these villagers, the firing lasted almost one hour. No collateral damage on the Indian side was reported till late evening. In Kathua, a joint team of the security forces continued anti-terror operations to hunt down the Pakistani terrorists who once again came on the radar of the security forces late Monday night in the Panjthirthi area of Kathua.
During the overnight operations, the teams of the special operations group of Jammu and Kashmir police, the Central Reserve Police Force, and the Indian Army tightened the cordon to neutralise them, but the terrorists managed to give the slip, taking advantage of the pitch-dark conditions.
As the operation was resumed with the first light on Tuesday senior officers, including Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat, along with Army and CRPF officers, arrived at the encounter site to personally supervise the operations. According to local reports, the security forces launched massive searches in the area and expanded the scope of operations to hunt down the terrorists.
Last Thursday, two terrorists were killed, and four police personnel sacrificed their lives in the Juthana area of Kathua.
