Ganderbal ops still on

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, October 2

Even as the combing operation in the upper reaches of Ganderbal district continued for the sixth consecutive day, a senior police officer said one or two militants might still be holed up in the area.

Two militants, suspected to be Pakistani, have been killed in one of the longest anti-militancy operations that began on Friday in the upper reaches of Trumkhal, Gangbal, at an altitude of over 4,000 m. The area where the operation is going on is accessible by road.

“The exact number of militants is not known but there may be one or two militants still holed up in the area,” Superintendent of Police, Ganderbal, Khalil Poswal told reporters in Ganderbal. He said the operation would continue till security forces were fully satisfied about that no militants were present in the area.

“The searches will continue for a few more days, till forces are fully satisfied that no militant is hiding in the area,” he said.

He said the militants had recently infiltrated into the Valley. “The militants had entered from the Gurez (Bandipora) sector and were hiding in the Gangbal forest belt. Since last month, we had stepped up the vigil as the area is a traditional infiltration route,” Poswal said.

After the scrapping of the special status of J&K, four militants have been killed in three operations in Kashmir. The first two gunfights took place in north Kashmir in which two local militants were killed.