J&K: 3 Militants Killed In Encounter Between Security Forces And Terrorists In Sidhra Of Jammu

Three militants have been likely killed in a brief encounter between security forces and militants in Sidra area of Jammu district on Wednesday morning.

The police say the truck in which they were traveling has caught fire and after things settle down they will be able to tell the exact number of the terrorist killed in the encounter, the police said. The police said it is too early to identify the terrorist outfit with which the killed militants belong.

A senior police official while talking to the reporters in Jammu said in view of January 26 the police had alerted the border security grid all across Jammu.

He said on Wednesday morning the police and the security forces saw an unusual movement of a truck. Usually, he said, the truck movement starts in the area at around 12 p.m. He said the security forces spotted the unusual movement of the truck and started following. ?The truck, the official said, was stopped at Sidra and the driver was asked to come down. However, the driver taking the excuse of going to the toilet fled away from the scene. He said after the forces started searching the truck, during which the security personnel came under fire, which was retaliated in which all the militants traveling in the truck were killed.

This is the third encounter between security forces and militants since August 11 in the Jammu division. On August 11, four soldiers including a JCO were killed in a militant attack on an Army camp in Darhal area of the Rajouri district. Two militants involved in the attack were gunned down four hours after the encounter. On August 15, another encounter took place in the Budal area of Rajouri.

On Monday Jammu and Kashmir police recovered Improvised Explosive Device-like material and a huge cache of arms and ammunition, believed to be belonging to the Pakistan-based proscribed organization Lashkar-e-Taiba, in Udhampur and detained one suspect, police said.

“IED-like material weighing around 15 kg in a cylindrical shape, 300-400 grams of RDX, seven cartridges of 7.6 mm, five detonators, one coded sheet, one letter pad page of banned terrorist organisation LET in Basantgarh area of District Udhampur, one suspect has also been detained,” the police said in a statement.

A case has also been registered under sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (Act) and the Explosive Act in the Basantgarh Police Station.