In 2009, Poonch was the site of a nine-day operation and encounter with terrorists – Nov. 1-9. January. Four soldiers, including a Junior Commissioner (JCO), lost their lives. Four terrorists are said to have been killed. However, their bodies were not recovered from the meeting place. Search and combing work was stopped after nine days.
Two and a half months almost 11 years since then, another operation was on her tenth day on Wednesday in the same Poonch neighborhood. The operation began on October 11th when the encounter began in the Dera Ki Gali area of Surankot Tehsil, Poonch district.
The operation was started on the basis of intelligence about a large group of terrorists in the area. A search led to an encounter with the terrorists.
READ: New terror group takes responsibility for Poonch attack, in which 9 soldiers died
In the first encounter on October 11th, five soldiers, including a JCO, lost their lives.
Another round of intense gunfights took place on October 14th. Two soldiers lost their lives. The bodies of a JCO and another Jawan were later found at the meeting place.
Nine soldiers, including two JCOs, have lost their lives since the operation began. The Indian army has sent a specially trained unit of para commandos for the combing operation.
Security guards near the meeting place in Poonch District (PTI)
Drones and modern weapons are used to track down terrorists operating in the forests. Information about the soil situation is not clearly known. The Indian army has so far only issued written statements.
Media personnel are not allowed within 11 km of the woods where the encounter is taking place.
Indian Army Chief General MM Naravane reviewed the situation this week and ended his two-day visit on Tuesday evening, after which the armed forces reportedly prepared for the final attack.
An announcement from loudspeakers above the mosques urged villagers to return home from the farm fields and stay indoors to avoid collateral damage. The security forces also arrested some people who were suspected of providing logistical support to the terrorists.
It is a densely forested area and reports quoting experts say the scale of the encounter indicates the presence of a huge group of terrorists. Some of the experts suspect the presence of officers from the Pakistani army who are taking over the operational management of the terrorists deployed on the ground.
It is speculated that the Indian armed forces’ involvement in the eastern Ladakh sector for more than a year, due to a military stalemate with China, may have “weakened” the anti-infiltration network in the western sector along the line of control (LoC) with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.
The terrorists may have been in the woods for about two months, reports said, citing security forces sources. Some believe the terrorist group may be implicated in a series of attacks and clashes that have taken place in the Poonch-Rajouri region since August.
The first major encounter took place on August 6, the day after the second anniversary of the Article 370 repeal, when two terrorists were killed in the Pangai Forest of the Thanamandi area of Rajouri.
Another meeting took place in the same area on August 19th. Two soldiers, including a JCO, were killed in an encounter. A terrorist was killed on September 13 in the Rajouri area of Manjakote. The security forces believe that these incidents could be linked to the ongoing encounter.
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