Pakistani commandos’ hand suspected in J&K encounter

The ferocity of the fighting between security forces and the group of terrorists holed up in the jungles of Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district for at least eight days suggests the infiltrators were trained by Pakistani commandos, sources in the army and police have said.

Nine soldiers including two Junior Commissioned Officers or JCOs have been killed in the line of duty, fighting these terrorists since yesterday, in what has become the deadliest encounter for India's military in Jammu and Kashmir in recent years.

It is also unclear if any of the terrorists have been killed since no bodies have been found yet. The fighting in the 8-9 km stretch of thick forest has continued despite a massive combing operation, a tight cordon and intense shelling.

In the first brush with these terrorists, five soldiers, including a JCO, were killed on the night of October 10 in the Dera Wali Gali area of Poonch, which is close to the Line of Control.

Following this, an army group searching for the terrorists were ambushed in the forests of Nar Khas on Thursday. Two soldiers were killed and two more, including a JCO, went missing. Their bodies were recovered after a tough operation two days later, reports NDTV.

Sources in the army and the local police suggest that the fact that this group of terrorists have been able to inflict such heavy casualties while managing to evade thousands of security forces for eight days suggests they were trained by elite commandos of the Pakistani military.

"The group of terrorists may also include Pakistani commandos. But we will only know for sure once they are shot down," an officer, requesting not to be named, said.

Meanwhile, Indian authorities have moved thousands of migrant workers in Kashmir to safer locations overnight, while hundreds have fled the Himalayan valley after a wave of targeted killings, two security officials said yesterday.

"We moved thousands of workers to secure places and are facilitating their return home," a senior police official told Reuters, declining to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

In other areas, security forces had intensified patrolling to prevent any militant activity, the official added.