Jammu, Sep 17 — Two Pakistani Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists were killed in Operation Soan in J&K's Udhampur and have been identified as Saddam and Mustafa, J&K Police said on Thursday,
"You Can Run But You Can't Hide! Op Soan: the two neutralised Pakistani Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists have been identified as Saddam and Mustafa", J&K Police wrote in a post on X.
Police said arms and ammunition, including an AK assault rifle with 4 magazines, an M4 Carbine with 3 magazines, a Glock Pistol with 2 magazines, and 4 grenades, were recovered from their possession.
Officials had said earlier that after suspicious movement was reported from Majalta of Udhampur district on Wednesday evening, joint forces launched a cordon and search operation, following which contact (exchange of gunfire) was established with the terrorists.
"During the ensuing gunfight, two terrorists have been killed. The operation is still going on in the area," an official said.
The operation was initially started by J&K Police and the Para Special Forces of the army. Reinforcements were rushed to the area immediately after the encounter started there.
A joint team of the Indian Army, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Jammu and Kashmir Police was conducting searches in the area.
The operation comes amid heightened security activity in the Pir Panjal region following the recent busting of an alleged overground worker (OGW) network linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Rajouri.
On September 15, Rajouri police arrested three people in connection with an alleged terror module operating in the Pir Panjal region.
The accused were identified as Zakir Hussain, Mohd Azam, and Mohd Mushtaq. Security forces have intensified searches using sniffer dogs and aerial surveillance to sanitise the area and track any remaining terrorists.
High alert, vehicle checking, and tight cordons remain in place across strategic routes in the Udhampur-Reasi range.
The hilly areas of Udhampur, Reasi, Ramban, Kathua, Poonch and Rajouri districts have been under special focus of the security forces because of the reported movements of hardcore Pakistani terrorists in these inaccessible areas.
While these anti-terrorist operations have been continuing for more than six months, there have been successes for the security forces, as a few top terrorists were neutralised in these operations.
The bigger advantage of these operations is that the terrorists are kept constantly on the run without being able to get a foothold to plan and carry out attacks against the security forces, the army, and civilians.