Hideout busted; cache of arms, explosives recovered in J&K

Jammu: A major terror plot has been thwarted ahead of April 17 Lok Sabha polls here as a militant hideout in Puneja-Bhaderwah forests of Doda district was busted, a defence official said Friday.

On specific inputs from Army`s Rashtriya Rifles battalion based at Bhadarwah as well as Jammu and Kashmir Police, a major terror hideout was busted last evening and six weapons and eight kg of RDX were recovered from there, the defence spokesman said. After about 48 hrs of intense search in the dense Rantsaka Forest on the higher reaches of Bhadarwah belt of Doda district, the well-organised and stocked hideout in Bhadani Nala was busted but no militant has been arrested so far, he said. A huge cache of war-like stores comprising of arms, ammunition, communication equipment, logistic support items, literature related to terrorists and Pakistan currency notes were found concealed. An AK?47 rifle with two magazines, one .303 rifle, two Chinese pistols with magazines, one 12 bore single barrel gun, one country made pistol, one Chinese sniper sight, seven hand grenades, one Grenades of UBGL, explosives including eight kgs of RDX, two electric detonators were recovered. Besides, six high frequency hand held radio sets, cooking utensils and large quantity of ammunition of sniper rifle, Pikka and UMG were also recovered, the spokesman said. He said the hideout is likely to have been prepared by local terrorists who operated in the region some time back. "The same could now have been planned to be used to revive the terrorism and launch attacks against the security forces in the region," the spokesman said. Although no arrests have been made so far, the joint security forces parties continue to comb the entire area for further cues. A senior Police officer, however, said the cache of terror material particularly the weaponry appeared to be an old dump of the militants. Bhaderwah-Doda belt is part of the Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency, which is going to polls on April 17. Union Minister Gulam Nabi Azad is contesting as Congress candidate among 13 candidates from the Udhampur LS seat.