Alert in Jammu after three militants sighted in Akhnoor district

Jammu: BSF personnel patrolling the international border on the outskirts of Jammu. (Source: PTI Photo/File) 

A high alert was sounded across Jammu region on Thursday following the sighting of three militants who left behind one fully installed IED, two mines among other incriminating material near an army camp in Akhnoor town on Wednesday night.

“The alertness and vigilance of Army personnel helped in averting a major terrorist strike on sensitive and soft targets in Akhnoor,” said a defence ministry spokesperson Colonel N N Joshi. Joint combing operations by Army and police are in progress, he said.

Giving details, sources said that sentries at an army camp adjoining Akhnoor police near the local market station noticed three people passing through the area under suspicious circumstances on Wednesday night. The sentry asked them to halt, but they ran into the nearby forests under the cover of darkness.

The Army troops immediately cordoned off the entire area and launched searches with the help of sniffer dogs. During searches, the troops recovered one fully installed IED, two mines, army accouterments and other incriminating stores including a knife and a paper written in Urdu so far.

However, till late evening, militants were untraceable.