Over 50 persons have been detained for questioning over the killings of ༒seven per🌠sons in two terrorist acts in Dhangri village in Jammu and ꩲKashmir's Rajouri earlier this month.
On January 1, terrorists fired at houses in Rajouri's Dhangri, killing five people. The next morning, within 14 hours of firing, an IED exploded near the house of one of the victims of the previous day's attack. The IED explosion killed two children, taking the death toll to seven.
Following the terrorists' firing, a search opꦉeration was launched by the J&K Police, CRPF, and the Indian Army, which on Tuesday entered its ninth day𝔉. There has so far been no contact with ꧙the terrorists.
The five persons killed on the January 1 attack are identified as Satish Kumar (45), Deepak Kumar (23), Pritam Lal (57), Shishu Pal (32), and Prince Shar🌠ma. The IE🌄D exploded the next day near Pritam's house. Prince is the younger brother of Deepak.
The two killed in the IED blast on January 2 are identified as Vihan Sharma (04) and Samiksha Sharma (16). The two of them were cousins. The police said the IED was planted under a bag by te🧜rrorists after the firing incident on January 1.
Over 50 detained, 'vital leads' secured
Over 50 persons have so far been detained over the attacks. The detained per✅sons include women as well.
Earlier💜, the police said "some vital leads" have been secured in the investigation.
An official earlier told PTI, "The investigation of the terror attac꧙k is going in the right direction. So far, a dozen-and-a-half suspects, including some women, have been detained for questioning.Some vital leads have been found that suggest the presence of terroris𝐆ts in some villages near Rajouri town."
Offiജcials said police posters announcing a reward of Rs 10 lakh to anyone giving credible information about the terrorists have also come up at various places in the district🍎.
A joint cordon and search operation by the Army, police and CRPF is in progress at over two dozen villages where there were reports of terrorist pre꧟sence before the attack, the officials said, adding special operational teams of Jammu and Kashmir police, moved from outside Rajouri, have also been deployed at designated locations.
"Anti-terrorist operation is going on at a massive scale to neutralise the terrorists involved in the Dhangri attack.There are some vital leads and we are working on these to bring the culprits to book," said Senior Superintendent of Police Rajouri Mohꦚammad Aslam to PTI.
Aslam said additional troops𒅌 of the CRPF along with police were deployed in sensi🤡tive areas to strengthen vigil.
Villagers given rifles, village guards being mustered
In the wake of fear and insecurity that has taken over the area following Rajouri killings, the 🐓government has started arming villagers and mustering and training volunteers to take up arms and guard villages.
The issue of village defece committ🐲ees (VDCs) has been raised in the past as well. Following Rajouri killings, the government assured the VDCs in thea area will be revived.
On Monday, the g🥀overnment handed over self-loading rifles (SLRs) to the ex-servicemen acting as village defence guards (VDGs) in Dhangri village.
This is for the first time that the VDGs, who were earlier known as Village Defence Committee (VDC) members, were given sophisticated rifles anywhere in the Jammu region, wher🅘e they play a pivotal role in rooting out terrorism by standing shoulder-to-shoulder with police and other security agencies. Earlier, the VDCs were only equipped with .303 rifles. There were demands for repl♚acing the outdated rifles with sophisticated weapons to tackle the threat of terrorism more effectively.
The Jammu and Kashmir Police held a special camp in Dhangri on Monday. It was attended by Rajouri Deputy Commissioner Vikas Kundal and Senior Superintendent of Police Mohamm𝓀ad Aslam, among others.
Around 40 ex-servicemen living in the area and identified by a panchayat-level committee were given SLRꦐs along with 100 bullets each at the camp, the officials said, adding that most of these ex-servicemen had servღed in the Army and volunteered themselves to act as VDGs.
&q🅷uot;We are thankful to the district administration for giving us the SLRs, which have a better firing range, and giving us an opportunity to serve as VDGs," ex-serviceman Roshan🍨 Lal said.
Lal sai꧋d all the VDGs, especially the ex-servicemen, are ready to work in coordination with the secꦦurity forces to counter terrorists.
Sarpanch of Dhangri Dheeraj Sharma thanked Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha's administration for 𝐆fulfilling their demand.
Sharma said during his visit to the village after the terror attack, Sinha had promise🏅d ꧙to provide new weapons.
"Our demand is fulfilled.... Although the number of weapons is less than what was projected, we are still thankful. We💦 expect that more weapons will be provided in the coming times," Sharma said.
Border grid being beefed up
The administration strengthened VDGs comprising local volunteers and the border grid to keep a tight vigil on possible infiltrati🍒on route🥃s, the officials said.
Police have also deployed additional personnel at border 🀅posts as part of enhanced security near the Line of Control (LoC) to keep a close vigil o♌n notorious infiltration routes, the officials said.
Meanwhile, as part of efforts to strengthen VDGs and sharpen their firing skills, the officials said the Indian Army held a special firing practice session for the voluntܫeers in Mahadev Menka firing range in Sunderbani sector this morning.
Over 50 VDGs, drawn from different villages along the LoC, took part in t🐭he firing practice session which was held in coordination with local police, the officials said, adding that the said weapon handlers and shooting experts of the Army demonstrated proper use of weapons to VDGs who later practised firi🐻ng.
Stone-pelting at minority community's houses
Amid fear and insecurity among the J&K's minority Hin🐓du community m🐈embers following Rajouri killings, stone pelting at their houses were reported in a separate incident on Monday, PTI reported citing sources.
The PTI reported that the incident took place in Banch village and sourceᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𝕴ᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ added that the pelting of stones created panic among the people.
Police immediately rushed to the spot and 🥃security was tightened in the area, the sources said, adding that there are around 20 families of a minority community in the village.
(With PTI inputs)
