Punjab govt steps up anti-terror fight after 3 militants spotted in forests

 High alert has been issued in Punjab, Himachal and Jammu and Kashmir after terrorists were spotted in three areas in the past four days.

Days after the Gurdaspur attack, terror continues to haunt the people of Punjab. After the sporadic use of banned satellite phone at three places in the state, the terrorists have now made their presence felt as many as three times at three places in the last four days.

A massive search operation was launched in Mukerian district's Purika village on Monday after a government school teacher spotted three to four militants in a car.

A school teacher on Monday told the police that the suspected terrorists dressed in an army gear were moving in a Maruti Alto car .The police force descended on the area immediately and launched a massive search operation to nab the terrorists. The school authorities also informed the locals about the presence of militants who also joined the huge posse of policemen .

Earlier on Sunday, two heavily armed militants were spotted at Ladeti village in Pathankot. The terrorists were spotted by a matriculation student Ajay and his brother Lalit, who were inside their house when they suddenly noticed two strangers peeping from a window.

"My sons immediately came out and found them heading into the the forest. They were in Army fatigues. While one was bearded, the other was clean shaven," Ajay's father told the police.

Inspector-General of Police Lok Nath Angraand and DIG (Border Range) Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh reached Ladeti village and started a search operation along with QRT commandos and the Army. The combing operation was also launched in Ladeti forest, along the Chakki river and in the hutments of Gujjar tribes in Himachal Pradesh.

"We are taking every input seriously and the police are prepared to take on the terrorists. No terrorist was found during the search operation," Kunwar Singh said.

Nearly two dozen armed militants were also spotted at Dera Baba Nanak on Friday night. Security was beefed up in and around police posts, located close to the International Border under Kalanaur police station, after the militants were spotted.

A massive search operation was launched in Mukerian district's Purika village on Monday.

 

Neighbouring hill state of Himachal Pradesh, which also shares its border with insurgencyhit Jammu and Kashmir, is also on a high alert after the Dinanagar terror attack and the alleged existence of suspected Kashmiri terrorists in Chamba.

The state government has sounded an alert in the border areas of Chamba district where two strangers, believed to be the terrorists, were spotted recently.

"We had received information from locals that two strangers were noticed in a bus in Surgani area of the district. Students of Surgani Government Senior Secondary School had also given similar inputs but the local CID unit did not notice any unlawful activity in the area," Superintendent of Police, Chamba SK Chaudhary said.Sources however said the strangers noticed by the locals may have slipped into Jammu region and could be involved in the attack on a CRPF vehicle on Wednesday on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in Udhampur. It is worth mentioning here that militants had killed 35 people in Chamba district in Sakrindi village in 1998.Chamba-Jammu and Kashmir border also has a sizeable Gujjar population, who like their Punjab counterparts, are under the scanner for their alleged support to the infiltrators.

Alert sounded

Himachal shares a 226-km border with Jammu and Kashmir. A precautionary alert has been sounded in the three districts of Kangra, Chamba and Una.

"The state police are fully capable to tackle any situation, including a terrorist attack. A dozen outstation check posts (OCPs) have been set up to check infiltration," Director General of Police Sanjay Kumar said. MAIL TODAY has learnt that the militants who sneaked into India recently are now trying to cross over to Punjab following the heightened security in Jammu and Kashmir after the Udhampur terror incident. Punjab government has already been alerted by the Ministry of Home Affairs about a possible terror strike on or before Independence Day.