Searches underway after terrorists take food from house in Jammu & Kashmir's Udhampur

Jammu: Security forces launched a search operation at a village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district after terrorists reportedly took food from a house before escaping into the nearby forest area, officials said on Sunday.

The joint search operation by police and paramilitary forces was underway at Chore Motu and its adjoining forest villages in the Majalta area, some 5 km 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 at Chore Motu village at around 6.30 pm and took food.

Police and paramilitary forces were immediately mobilised, but the terrorists could not be found, they said.

The forest belt near the village was cordoned off, and a combing operation was launched simultaneously from different sides with the first light of the day on Sunday to track down and neutralise the terrorists, the officials said.

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 area.

The terrorists managed to escape, taking advantage of thick foliage and darkness, the officials said.