Major Terror Bid Foiled, 3 Suspects With AK-47 Assault Rifles Held In Kathua

In a major success for Indian armed forces, three terror suspects were arrested on Thursday, who were allegedly planning a massive attack in Jammu and Kashmir. The suspected terrorists were arrested from in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua. They were travelling in a truck. Conforming the development, Sridhar Patil SSP Kathua said that, ‘a truck carrying arms and ammunition has been recovered.’ He also added that 180 live rounds have been recovered. According to the initial probe, 2 AK-47s and 4 AK-56s have been recovered from the suspects. There are reports that the truck belonged to a resident of Pulwama. Police is interrogating the suspects.

The arrest of the terror suspects in Kathua comes a day after top Lashkar-e-Toiba commander Asif was neutralised in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Sopore on Wednesday. Asif was responsible for a recent shootout and injuries to three family members of a fruit trader in Sopore. The injured also included a young girl Asma Jan. He was also responsible for an attack on a migrant labour Shafi Alam in Sopore. Two police personnel were also are injured in the encounter.

The situation has been tense in the region since the abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir. According to Indian Army, five to seven Pakistani terrorists and regulars were killed near the LoC last month and the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) of the Indian Army had conveyed the same to his Pakistani counterpart.

Meanwhile, as many as 139 terrorists have been killed by the Indian Army in Jammu and Kashmir in the first eight months of this year, defence sources said on Saturday. However, during these operations, the 26 security forces personnel, belonging to various ranks, have also been martyred.

The report states that maximum number of terrorist-initiated incidents (22) in Jammu and Kashmir were reported in the month of May and security forces managed to neutralise as many as 27 terrorists in this period- the highest number for any calendar month in the year 2019.

The total number of terrorist-initiated incidents across Jammu and Kashmir from January to August have been recorded at 87. In the last week of July, Indian Army used Bofors howitzers to foil an attack by Pakistan Army's BAT on forward post in Keran sector of Jammu and Kashmir. More than four BAT commandoes had been gunned down by while they were attempting to infiltrate the LoC.