Search operation widened to track down terrorists hiding in forest belt in Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur

Jammu: Security forces widened the area of the search operation to track down terrorists hiding in the forest belt of Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district on Monday, officials said.

The cordon and search operation, which entered its second day, was launched in the Majalta forests after two terrorists reportedly took food from a house before escaping into the nearby forest area, officials said on Sunday.

The area of the cordon and search operation, backed by sniffer dogs and aerial surveillance, was widened to nearly ten kilometres in the forest belt on Monday morning to pin down the two terrorists hiding in the Majalta area, they said.

The expansion was necessitated following the sighting of the terrorists in the forest area for the third time in the past few days. The movement of the duo was reported on Sunday night too.

The joint search operation by police and paramilitary forces was underway in Chore Motu and its adjoining forest villages in the Majalta area, about five kilometres west of the site of an earlier encounter that left a policeman dead, the officials said.

They said an intelligence input was received late Saturday that two unidentified terrorists visited the house of Mangtu Ram in Chore Motu village at around 6.30 pm and took food.

On December 15, a policeman was killed in an encounter with terrorists at Soan village in the Majalta area after security forces received information about the movement of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists in the region. The terrorists managed to escape, taking advantage of thick foliage and darkness, the officials said.