Ganderbal encounter enters day 4: Siege to continue in entire forest range for coming days, says Police |KNO

Kashmir News Observer (KNO)

Srinagar, Oct 02 (KNO): Jammu and Kashmir police on Wednesday said that the search operation and siege at Gangbal area of Naranag forest belt in Central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district will continue for some more days as they expect presence of one or two militants in the area. The encounter that started on Sunday morning in the dense woods of Trumkhal area of Gangbal has so far seen the killing of two militants. In the first exchange of firing on Sunday, one militant was killed while as security forces made second contact with the militants on Monday morning after which second militant was killed. Police today confirmed that it was an infiltration bid and the militants had entered from Gurez-Bandipora sector and were hiding in the Ganganbal forest belt after entering into this side. “Since past one month, we had stepped up the vigil given the fact that area is a traditional infiltration route. On Sunday, one militant was killed after the contact with the group that infiltrated was made first,” Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ganderbal, Muhammad Khalil Poswal told reporters. He said that second militant was killed on Monday morning. Asked whether there were any more militants present in the area, he said: “The exact number of militants was not known but there can be one or two militants still holed up in the area.” The SSP Ganderbal said that till security forces would be fully satisfied about presence of no militant in the area, the search operation will continue. “The searches will continue for a few more days in the entire stretch,” he said. A source in the police said that the security forces have set up a Temporary Operation Base (ToB) in the area to ensure that the entire area including the traditional infiltration routes to ensure that all the possible bids are foiled. “Army is maintaining highest level of vigil on the Gurez-Bandipora ridge and other passes where from militants may try to sneak in. The aim is to foil all the bids made by the militants before the onset of winter,” he said. The Ganderbal encounter is third gunfight in Kashmir post abrogation of Article 370 on August 5. The first encounter after the rollback of special status took place in old town Baramulla followed by second one at Sopore where two Lashkar-e-Toiba militants were killed.(KNO)