Large cache of arms, ammunition recovered in J&K’s Poonch

Army said on Sunday that it seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district.

Officials said that the Army’s Romeo Force seized a huge cache of weapons and explosives in the Jhullas area of the district late Saturday evening.

“Based on specific intelligence inputs, a search was launched in the Jhullas area of Poonch district by the army. Weapons and explosives were recovered from a suspected terrorist's bag. The recovered items included AK-47, pistol rounds of Pakistani origin and sophisticated explosives like RCIED (radio-controlled improvised explosive device), Timed destruction IED, Stove IED, explosives for IEDs and Chinese Grenades. The search operation was launched yesterday evening,” officials said here.

It must be mentioned that terrorists believed to be hardcore foreign mercenaries, have carried out hit-and-run attacks against the Army, local police and civilians in the hilly districts of Doda, Kathua, Rajouri, Poonch and Reasi of Jammu division during the last three to four months.

After carrying out ambushes against the Army and others in the hilly areas, the terrorists would escape into the densely foliaged and forested areas of these hilly districts.

To thwart the tactics of the terrorists, over 4,000 soldiers drawn from the elite Para Commandos and those trained in mountain warfare were deployed in the high and densely forested areas of the Jammu division. After this revised strategy by the security forces, terrorist attacks in these districts have drastically come down.

With their ubiquitous presence in these areas, the security forces have been able to establish contact (engage terrorists in gunfights) in these areas.

Eight terrorists have been killed so far after the security forces revisited their strategy to meet the challenge posed by the foreign mercenaries.

In order to protect villages from the terrorists, who seek inhabited places for food and shelter, J&K Police have issued automatic weapons and imparted basic weapon handling training to the village defence committees (VDCs) in all the hilly districts of Jammu division.