20 Shopian villages cordoned off in Kashmir crackdown

Indian security forces have launched a massive search operation in Shopian district of south Kashmir in the wake of the recent terror attacks in the Valley.

Twenty villages in Turkwangam area have been cordoned off to try and catch the militants who attacked a police station in Shopian and took off with five rifles on Tuesday night.

Suspected terrorists stormed into a police post guarding the court complex of southern Shopian and got away with five service rifles, including four INSAS and an AK-47.

On Wednesday four armed militants stormed the Wahibugh branch of Elaquai Dehati Bank in Pulwama and took off with at least Rs3 lakh in cash. Just over an hour later, a second armed robbery occurred at Jammu and Kashmir Bank's Nehama Branch.

Clashes erupted in the area after the cordon. Some youths assembled in the villages and started pelting stones at the security forces.

Bank robberies and weapon snatching incidents have been on the rise in the Valley recently.

In the past seven months, militants have looted more than Rs1 crore from banks and ATMs in 13 incidents, all of them in South Kashmir. Most robberies have occurred in the wee hours of weekdays, and the most common targets have been banks in Pulwama (4) and Kulgam (3). Other districts targeted by militants include Anantnag (2), Shopian (2) and Budgam (1).

According to latest intelligence inputs, terrorists have deployed along the Line of Control in small groups of 10 to 12 and are waiting to be pushed to our side from Pakistan occupied Kashmir as a new strategy of their Army.

In a ceasefire violation, the Pakistan Army had on 1 May opened rocket and mortar firing on two forward posts along the LoC in the Krishna Ghati sector of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan's Border Action Team (BAT) attacked an Indian joint patrol team and mutilated its two soldiers.