- Hardcore OGW detained under PSA in Doda
STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU/SRINAGAR: Terrorists hurled two grenades at an Army post in Poonch district of early Wednesday, officials said. Only one of the grenades exploded.
There were no casualties in the attack. Security forces have launched a search operation to trace the terrorists, the officials said.
Terrorists lobbed two grenades at an Army post behind an Army camp in the Surankote area. While one of them exploded, the other did not and was subsequently defused by experts during the search operation, they said.
The safety pin of the exploded grenade was found near the perimeter wall of the Army camp, they added.
A massive search operation has been launched by the Army and police in the area to track down the terrorists, who fled after the attack, the officials said.
Meanwhile, security forces continued their search for terrorists in the Dachigam forest in Srinagar outskirts, a day after a Lashkar-e-Taiba ultra was killed in an encounter in the area, officials said.
According to officials, the security forces halted their search on Tuesday night but maintained a tight cordon in the area. The search for militants in the vast mountainous and forest area of Dachigam resumed in the morning, they said.
“The search operation in the upper reaches of Dachigam continued on Wednesday and the security forces are conducting extensive searches in the area,” an official said.
LeT terrorist Junaid Ahmed Bhat was killed in the encounter with security forces on Tuesday. The category “A” terrorist was involved in the October 20 attack near a tunnel construction site in the Gagangir area of Ganderbal in which a local doctor and six non-local labourers were killed.
Dachigam, a national park located in the Zabarwan range of the Himalayas, reaches the districts of Pulwama and Ganderbal on either side and covers an area of about 141 square kilometres.
In a related development, a hardcore Over-Ground Worker (OWG) of a terror group was detained under the stringent Public Safety Act in Doda district, police said.
The PSA is an administrative law that allows detention without charge or trial for up to two years in some cases.
“In order to fight against anti-national elements and to curb terror-related activities in Doda, police have detained hardcore OGW Mohd Irfan of Kanhal Bajarni Tehsil Bhagwah under the PSA and lodged him in jail following a detention order issued by the district magistrate, Doda,” police said in a statement.
It said the accused was involved in unlawful activities and was trying to spread the terror network to revive militancy in the district at the behest of his handlers operating from across the border.
“The accused was operating in a very dubious manner and his activities were a constant threat to the society at large and were prejudicial to the peace, tranquillity and security of the region.
“The subject was warned a number of times and bound down to desist himself from anti-national activities but he did not change his behaviour and was deemed a grave potential to assist militants in their nefarious designs to revive militancy in the district,” police said.
He has been lodged at Kot Bhalwal Jail in Jammu after obtaining a detention order from the district magistrate, Doda, it said.
“The step is taken to maintain the safety and security of the region and is a loud warning to all the anti-national elements to either mend their ways or the law of the land will firmly be applied against them,” the statement said.