Jammu (The Uttam Hindu): Massive crackdown in four districts of Jammu division has resulted in the arrest of 10 overground workers (OGWs) of various terror groups, Jammu and Kashmir police said on Thursday. Officials said the crackdown against the terror ecosystem was carried out at 17 locations by police and the CRPF in Malhar, Bani, Billawar areas, Kana Chak, Haria Chak, Sorak pain, Chak Wajir in Kathua District.
“Well-planned and executed operation in connection with three FIRs related to terror incidents registered at police stations Malhar, Billawar and Bani led to the identification and arrest of 10 OGWs and terrorist suspects. “A number of electronic devices were also seized during the searches,” officials said. In anti-terrorist operations carried out some time back, three foreign terrorists affiliated with the Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) outfit were killed in two different encounters with security forces in the upper reaches of Kathua district and its fringe area with Basantgarh in Udhampur district.
Police in the Jammu division have intensified crackdowns on terror networks linked to JeM and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) by conducting over 56 raids in various other districts, including Rajouri, Poonch, Udhampur and Reasi. The large-scale operation resulted in the arrest of several OGWs and terror suspects, along with the recovery of incriminating materials, including electronic devices, documents, unaccounted cash, weapons and ammunition. During two high-level security meetings chaired recently by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, clear orders have been given to the security forces to go all out to dismantle the terror ecosystem, which includes terrorists, OGWs, sympathisers and harbourers.
The orders from the Lt. Governor came in the aftermath of three dastardly attacks by the terrorists. On October 20, terrorists killed seven workers of an infrastructure company in Gagangir area of Ganderbal district. On October 24, three soldiers and two civilian porters were killed in a terrorist attack in the Botapathri area of Gulmarg. On November 2, one woman was killed and nine other civilians injured in a grenade hurled by terrorists on the Sunday market in Srinagar city.