On the second successive day, a massive search operation is going on in the Surankot area of the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir to track down terrorists involved in the attack on the convoy of the Indian Air Force on Saturday evening.
Official sources said that a well-coordinated joint operation by the Army and police is underway in many areas, including Shahsitar, Gursai, Sanai, and Sheendara Top, to neutralize the terrorists involved in ambushing the convoy of the IAF.
Initial reports suggested that the terrorists are believed to have fled into a forest after the attack.
"There has been no contact with the terrorists yet but additional forces have been rushed in the area to plug all escaping routes", sources said.
Opposition corners the government over increasing terror activities in Poonch-Rajouri
After two terror attacks within a gap of 15 days, opposition parties stepped up their attack on the government for its failure to contain terrorism in many parts of the Jammu region which were earlier declared as terrorism free.
Congress has expressed deep concern over the steep rise in terrorist incidents in the Jammu region especially Rajouri - Poonch where a series of attacks have taken place on the armed forces in the recent past causing the loss of several precious lives.
Strongly condemning the terrorist attack on the IAF vehicle in Poonch and expressing grave concern over the repeated attacks on our forces leading to several casualties of jawans and officers, senior Congress leaders sought swift, calculated, and equal measures of response to the grim situation to check it from further spreading.
Terming Saturday's attack as cowardly, Congress condemned the attack in its strongest words and sought the strongest planned response to the repeated targetted attacks on our brave forces and civilians and to check reviving militancy.
J&K Congress chief Vikar Rasool Wani, working president Raman Bhalla, chief spokesperson of the party Ravinder Sharma, and former Chairman Legislative Council Jahangir Mir have expressed grave concern over the escalated attacks by terrorists on our forces in the recent past in various parts especially in Rajouri-Poonch, resulting into huge loss of several precious lives of our jawans and officers as well as innocent civilians.
Second terror attack in the last 15 days
Two weeks after killing a government employee in the neighbouring Rajouri district, terrorists late Saturday evening ambushed a convoy of soldiers of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in the border district of Poonch. One soldier of the IAF lost his life in the line of duty while four others received injuries in the terror attack in the densely covered forest area of the district.
Saturday incident was the second terror attack in the poll-bound twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri.
Earlier on April 22, a 40-year-old government employee was killed after unknown terrorists had opened fire on him near Shahdra Sharief area of Thanamandi on April 22.
The terror victim government employee was identified as Mohammad Razaq, who was serving the Social Welfare Department of the J&K Government.
According to police, two Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terrorists barged into the house of one Territorial Army (TA) official in Village Kunda Tope, which is at a distance of around two kilometers from the famous shrine of Shahdra Sharief in the Rajouri district of J&K. Mohammad Raziq's brother was reportedly a soldier in the Territorial Army.
This border belt, known as the Pir Panchal range, is part of the newly crafted Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency which is going to polls in the sixth phase on May 25.
