The Hindu : Army takes command of Kathua operation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 05, 2003

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Army takes command of Kathua operation

By Luv Puri

Kathua Sept. 4. For the third consecutive day today, the security forces and militants are battling it out in the Ghati forests of Kathua district with the Army taking over the entire command and launching an assault on the holed-up militants. The exchange of fire subsided during the day but when the army started zeroing in on the targets later in the afternoon, the militants fired back.

A cordon of about 4 km thrown around the area is being narrowed down with the additional deployment of 300 army personnel. The militants are now surrounded by a three-tier cordon of security forces including the Army, the CRPF and the J&K police, besides members of Village Defence Group.

The Kathua operation, the longest anti-militancy drive of this year so far, started on Tuesday evening at 3.30 p.m. in Ghati village and one Special Police officer has been killed and nine security personnel, including two Village Defence Guard have been injured. Early this morning, the body of the police officer, Rajneesh Singh, a resident of Hiranagar, was recovered as the troops moved forward.

The area of operation is a dense jungle and the militants have split themselves into groups in three different directions which is making the job difficult for the security personnel. A senior CRPF officer said that they intercepted a message of the militants in which it was conveyed to their mentors across the borer that two of them had been injured. The response from the other side was, "Leave the injured behind and go ahead with your mission."

As the firing ceased during the day, the army moved in and the police and the CRPF formed the second tier. In the afternoon, the crack commandos with rocket launchers moved in. The militants are holed up in the forest area of 1 sq km right of the river Ujh which flows into Pakistan.

The SSP, Kathua, Manish Sinha claimed that all the escape routes had been sealed and that the militants would be killed when their ammunition got exhausted.

The stiff resistance has surprised many in the area. Eyewitness account said the militants were carrying a wireless set and huge ammunition which included Chinese grenades and AK rifles. Each militant was carrying two bags containing large stock of ammunition. Reports said that a civilian, identified as Mahendra Singh, saw two more militants wearing pathani suit near the Ujh river 5 km from the encounter site, but police refused to confirm it. The militants reportedly asked the civilian the way to Billawar.

Fidayeen killed in Poonch

Elsewhere in the State too, it was yet another tough day for the security forces as they foiled a suicide attack on an Army camp in Poonch and killed two fidayeens in army fatigues belonging to the Lashkar-e-Taiba. In all, at least 12 militants and a civilian have been killed in different parts of the State since last night.

Talking to The Hindu, the DIG (Rajouri-Poonch), S.M. Sahai, said, "It was a major fidayeen attack on the army camp but it was successfully foiled by the troops." Around 4.30 a.m. the fidayeens tried to storm 33 Brigade of the army in Kansar area of Poonch. The officer said, "In the aimless fire by the militants, a woman was killed and three children were injured."

This was the seventh fidayeen attack in the State after the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, extended his hand of friendship on April 18. In Rajouri district this morning, two HUJI militants were killed by the security forces.

Three militants were killed in Doda and Udhampur districts in separate encounters. In the Kashmir valley, five militants were killed in three separate encounters.

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