J&K News: Terrorists Holed Up In Kathua Ahead Of Assembly Polls Phase-3 Voting , Ops On

J&K News: At least three to four terrorists are holed up in a remote village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district, and an operation was launched to neutralize them, Additional Director General of Police, Jammu Zone, Anand Jain, said on Sunday.

He said adequate security arrangements are in place in the poll-bound district to ensure ‘violence-free’ voting in the third and final phase of assembly polls on October 1. A policeman was killed and two officers sustained injuries on Saturday evening when terrorists opened fire on a joint security search party at Kog-Mandli village in Billawar tehsil.

Speaking to reporters near the scene of the encounter, ADGP Jain said that information was received about the presence of terrorists in the area, and subsequently an operation was launched, which led to an exchange of fire.

Head constable Bashir Ahmad was killed, and two officers—a DSP and an assistant Sub-Inspector sustained injuries in the encounter, he said. Jain further stated that both the officers are stable. The security has been beefed up around the whole area, and an operation is underway to neutralize the three to four foreign terrorists hiding in the area, he said.

On the question about whether any terrorists were also killed in the encounter, he said there is no confirmation about the killing of any terrorist so far. “It will take some more time to get the real picture.” He said the presence of terrorists was reported in a house, and subsequently an operation was launched, which is underway.

On being asked about the interception of the terrorist group ahead of the third phase of Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls, the police officer said the operations against terrorists are going on and will continue.

“We are getting continuous information about terrorists and subsequently conducting operations with an endeavour to neutralize them as soon as possible,” he said. He said adequate security arrangements have been put in place in all poll-bound areas to ensure that there is no terror-related incident and a violence-free third phase.

Besides Kathua, the third phase of polls is covering Jammu, Udhampur, and Samba districts in the Jammu region and north Kashmir’s Baramulla, Kupwara, and Bandipora districts. The Assembly polls in the J&K are being held for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370. The votes will be counted on October 5, and the results will be declared on the same day.

(With PTI Inputs)