Poonch attack: 14 detained for questioning, search for terrorists continues

Sharing details of Lt General Dwivedi’s visit to Army’s Command Hospital at Udhampur on its official Twitter handle, the Northern Command said: “The #ArmuCdrNC interacted with the survivor of 20 Apr 23 #Poonch incident at Command Hospital #Udhampur and assured that necessary action is under way’’.

Northern Command also shared two pictures including one of Lt General Dwivedi interacting with the injured soldier.

The Northern Army Commander had on Saturday visited the site of the terror attack near Bhatta Durian where he reviewed the security measures and was briefed by senior officers on the measures taken so far to track down the terrorists.

Meanwhile, the massive cordon and search operation to track down the terrorists involved in the attack continued for the fourth day. The Jammu Kashmir Police and CRPF also joined the Rashtriya Rifles in the searches in which sniffer dogs and drones also are being used.

However, there has been no clue of the terrorists so far, sources said.

One of the police officers involved in the searches said the forest, spread over 25-30 sq km area, is so dense that one has to brave bushes for nearly 10 minutes to move a distance of 100 metres. These forests, which start from Bhatta Durian on the Bhimber Gali–Surankote road, go up to Dehra Ki Gali on the Mughal road on one side and touch Surankote on the other side and Bhimber Gali on the third side, all in Poonch district. These forests also touch Thanamandi area of Rajouri district, which is three to four hours walking distance through nullahs and forests from Upper Dangri village where two unidentified terrorists had killed seven civilians and injured 14 others in twin attacks on January 1-2 this year, he added.

These forests fall on a major infiltration route of terrorists entering J&K after crossing the Line of Control (LoC) in Balakote sector. From there, sources said that the infiltrating terrorists move towards Behramgala on the Mughal Road and finally cross over to Shopian in Kashmir Valley. Earlier, terrorists had killed 14 Army soldiers including a JCO in two attacks in these forests on Chamrel side and at Bhatta Durian in October 2021. Then also, a major combing and search operation was carried out, but it was called off after over a month without any success.

Though Army and police officials are yet to confirm whether the terrorist group involved in Thursday’s attack in Poonch and the Rajouri’s Upper Dangri massacre are the same, the police have recovered remains of steel core bullets used by terrorists at both the places.

The police have detained two more persons for questioning, raising the number of those picked up for questioning to 14.

The movement of vehicular traffic on the Bhimber Gali–Surankote road was restored on Sunday. The Army truck, which was damaged in the attack, was removed from the road, sources added.

Meanwhile, nomadic Gujjars and Bakerwals, who mostly live in the forests, have expressed solidarity with the Army. “As many as 113 members of the community in Akhnoor came forward and expressed solidarity with the security forces. Mohammad Akram, one of the leading members of the Bakkarwal community in Akhnoor, expressed his grief over the loss of the bravehearts and condemned the cowardly attacks,’’ said a statement issued by the Army here.

Describing the Gujjars and Bakerwals as `”one of the most victimised communities of Pakistan’s state sponsored terrorism in J&K since the early 90s’’, it said that the community has suffered a lot, frequently at the cost of precious lives and property at the hands of terrorists supported from across the border. These valiant nomadic people have supported the Indian Army in counter insurgency and counter terrorism operations with great courage and conviction, it said, adding that the achievements of this community cannot be overemphasised as they were the mainstay of “Operation Sarp Vinash” which drove out the scourge of Pak-sponsored terrorism from the Pir Panjal Ranges.