Ahead of the 76th Republic Day celebrations, an alert sentry stationed at one of the peripheral observation posts of a Temporary Operating base (TOB) thwarted a terrorist strike in the Moar area of Bhattodi village in Billawar tehsil of Kathua district on Saturday.
Moving swiftly, massive search operations were launched by the Indian army in the nearby forested area to track down the footprints of a suspected group of terrorists. Before fleeing the area suspected terrorists also opened fire on the army camp. However, no loss of life/injuries were reported in the brief exchange of firing.
Meanwhile, the entire area has been kept in a state of high alert in the run-up to the Republic Day celebrations. The villagers in the area have been advised to keep a close vigil on the movement of the suspected personnel. Additional security forces have been rushed to the area to ensure area domination and random checking of vehicles at the security checkpoints.
According to preliminary reports, at around 1.20 a.m late last night, an alert sentry opened fire after observing suspicious movement of a group of suspected terrorists near TOB Moar. According to these reports, the alleged group of terrorists also fired back leading to a brief exchange of fire for about 20-30 minutes.
According to official sources, no injuries were reported in the area.
According to official sources, three suspected terrorists are believed to have fled into a nearby forest. Deputy Inspector General of Police, Jammu, Samba and Kathua Range, Shiv Kumar Sharma, visited the main venues of the Republic Day functions in Jammu, Samba and Kathua to take stock of the security arrangements.
To ensure peaceful conduct of the Republic Day celebrations, a multi-layered security grid has been beefed up across the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
According to police, elaborate security arrangements have been made in Srinagar and Jammu to ensure peaceful conduct of the celebrations at both the main venues.