Jammu, Aug 4: Security forces on Tuesday launched a search operation after spotting a Pakistani drone hovering over forward villages along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district, officials said.
Police, assisted by the Rashtriya Rifles, also carried out extensive searches across dozens of remote villages in Poonch district following inputs about the suspected movement of two groups of terrorists, the officials said.
A Pakistani drone intruded into Indian territory and was seen hovering over the forward villages of Shukhmal, Devindera and Tapan in the Bobiyan area of Kathua’s Hiranagar sector around 2 pm, they said.
Alert Border Security Force (BSF) personnel initiated countermeasures to bring down the drone, but the flying object, which was at a high altitude, managed to return across the border, the officials said.
The BSF, along with the police, later conducted a thorough search of the area to ensure that the drone had not carried out any airdropping, they said, adding the operation was continuing when last reports were received.
In border district of Poonch, the officials said personnel of the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, assisted by troops of the Rashtriya Rifles, launched a cordon-and-search operation in dozens of villages including Dhara Sangla, Gujjar Naar and Kherowali Dhok in Surankote tehsil.
The operation was initiated following reports suggesting the movement of two separate groups of suspected terrorists in the densely forested region, they said.
No contact had been established with the suspected terrorists so far, the officials said, adding the operation was continuing, with security personnel carrying out systematic searches to trace the suspects.
The officials said the police and Rashtriya Rifles also conducted searches at Kalaban and adjoining areas in Mendhar tehsil on Tuesday but no one was taken into custody.
In another development, an old rusted mortar shell was recovered from the courtyard of a house near the International Border in the Hiranagar sector of Kathua district on Tuesday morning, the officials said.
The unexploded shell came to light when labourers engaged in excavation work at the residence of Subash Chander in Kattal-Brahmana village noticed the suspicious object and immediately alerted the authorities, they said.
According to the officials, a police team, accompanied by the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS), rushed to the spot, secured the area and safely removed the mortar shell for disposal.
