JAMMU: Four terrorists, travelling in a truck to Kashmir, were killed in an encounter on the national highway near Sidhra area here early Wednesday morning, and a huge cache of arms have been recovered from their possession, even as massive operations have been pressed to search for the driver of the truck, who fled the spot.
Additional Director General of Police, Jammu zone, Mukesh Singh said the encounter with the terrorists took place around 7.00 am amid intense fog near Tawi Bridge in the Sidhra bypass area along the Jammu-Srinagar National highway.
“In view of upcoming new year and republic day, the security grid is already on alert. On Wednesday morning, our personnel noticed suspicious movement of a truck on the highway. Usually the trucks move after 12’o clock in the noon, but this truck was on move towards Srinagar as early as 6:30 am,” said the ADGP.
He said that the security check points were alerted and the truck was stopped at Sidhra check point, where driver fled on the pretext of attending nature’s call.
“While the truck was being searched, the militants hiding in it opened indiscriminate firing on the security personnel, which was retaliated. Reinforcements were rushed to the area and in the gunfight that ensued, four terrorists were neutralised. The truck caught fire and only when it was doused, we could figure out the exact number of terrorists killed,” he said.
Singh said that the terrorists were heavily armed.
“As many as 7 AK-47 assault rifles and 3 pistols have been recovered from the truck so far, along with other ammunition,” he said.
The ADGP said that a massive search operation has been launched to nab the absconding truck driver, who along with the truck owner is yet to be identified.This, it may be mentioned, is the second encounter of the year in Jammu district. Earlier in the month of April, two Pakistani terrorists were gunned down by J&K Police in Sunjwan area.
Earlier this month, a “blast-like” sound was heard near a police checkpoint on the vital Sidhra bridge.
