Launching a major crackdown against the Pakistani terrorists, believed to be holed up inside their safe hideouts in the upper reaches of the Jammu region, a joint team of security forces Tuesday conducted massive combing and search operations across seven districts to track down their footprints.
Meanwhile, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) also conducted extensive searches in three districts of Srinagar Budgam and Baramulla in a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) linked case of the killing of non-locals.
In the Jammu division, the search operations were launched across 23 locations spread across the Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban, Reasi, Udhampur, Rajouri, and Poonch districts.
According to official sources, at least 10 search operations were launched across three districts of Doda, Kishtwar, and Ramban, seven across the frontier districts of Rajouri and Poonch, and three each in Reasi and Udhampur districts.
Searches were also conducted in areas close to the line of control in the frontier Poonch and Rajouri districts following reports about the presence of terrorist hideouts in the area.
The local intelligence officials in these district headquarters had shared their field assessment reports with the higher authorities during the recent round of review meetings in the run-up to the Republic Day celebrations following which a decision was taken to launch these searches in the upper reaches of Jammu region to dislodge these foreign terrorists from their hideouts.
According to official sources, Pakistani terrorists had launched several deadly attacks targeting army convoys during 2024 following which additional troops were rushed to the Jammu region to plug the gaps and improve area domination in the upper reaches of Kathua and Doda districts. BSF personnel were also deployed along the International border with Pakistan to plug the gaps and prevent fresh infiltration bids. In the majority of cases, the Pakistani terrorists ran away from the spot after carrying out attacks on security personnel, without facing any resistance.
According to Jammu and Kashmir Police, a total number of 14 foreign terrorists were neutralized during several anti-terrorist operations across the Jammu region while 18 security personnel sacrificed their lives in the line of duty and 14 civilians were killed in these terrorist attacks.
According to official data, Doda, Kathua and Reasi districts recorded nine killings each followed by Kishtwar (five), Udhampur (four), Jammu and Rajouri (three each) and Poonch (two) last year.
In addition, 13 terror modules were busted across the region. Modules were busted all across the Jammu zone, including Rajouri (1), Poonch (2), Udhampur (3), Reasi (1), Doda (4), and Kathua (2).