The ongoing operation against hiding terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district entered its third day on Tuesday even as arms and ammunition have been recovered from the operation site.

Officials said on Monday that a few rounds of firing were again heard from the Sanyal area in Hiranagar where a search operation was launched by security forces on Sunday (March 23) evening.

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“Ammunition was recovered yesterday from the site, the area is still under cordon. More details awaited,” said officials.

An army statement mentioned that the Joint operation by Jammu and Kashmir Police and the Rising Star Corps of the Indian Army in Saniyal, Hiranagar on March 23 led to the recovery of warlike stores.

“Operations in progress,” said the Rising Star Corps on its X handle, while posting a picture of the confiscated weapons.

The operation was started by joint forces after a local woman, Anita Devi and her husband Ganesh Kumar spotted the terrorists when they had gone into the forested area to collect firewood.

Based on this input, joint forces started a CASO (Cordon & Search Operation) in Sanyal village near the International Bureau in the Hiranagar sector of Kathua district.

“As the joint forces, including the Army, the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the J&K Police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), closed on hiding terrorists, they were fired at, triggering an encounter,” officials said.

A 7-year-old girl was injured on Sunday during the firing exchanges between the security forces and the terrorists. She was immediately shifted to the hospital. Doctors at the hospital said her condition was stable.

DGP Nalin Prabhat accompanied by Bhim Sen Tuti, IGP (Jammu) reached the operation site on Sunday evening to supervise the operation against holed-up terrorists in Sanyal village of Hiranagar tehsil which is barely 4 Km away from the International Border with Pakistan.

Not a single fire was exchanged between the holed-up terrorists and the security forces after 7 p.m. Sunday till Tuesday morning after which the joint forces said some gunfire shots were again heard from inside the cordoned-off area.

“The entire forested area, where three to five terrorists are believed to be hiding, has been surrounded,” officials said.

The IB between India and Pakistan is situated in the district, and in the past also, terrorists have attempted to sneak into the Indian side over the border.

Recently in Kathua, three civilians — Darshan Singh, 40, Yogesh Singh, 32, and Varun Singh, 14, — went missing on March 5 while returning from a wedding in Marhoon village.

Their bodies were discovered on March 8 near a waterfall on the edge of an escarpment in a wooded area following an extensive search involving the Army, police, drones, and sniffer dogs.

“The brutal killing of three relatives by terrorists in the Bani area of Kathua is extremely sad as well as a matter of great concern,” Union Minister Jitendra Singh said in a post on X.

In the wake of the incident, Union Home Secretary, Govind Mohan came to Jammu on March 9 and chaired a high-level security meeting regarding the safe and peaceful Amarnath Yatra beginning on July 3 and the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) which will soon be inaugurated.

The Home Secretary laid emphasis on the security situation in the Jammu division while giving detailed directions on the overall security situation in the union territory.

Initially confined to Poonch and Rajouri districts, terrorist activities have spread to other areas of Jammu, including those that were relatively free from such incidents until a few years ago like the Chenab Valley, which was declared militancy-free and Udhampur and Kathua. In the past, highly trained terrorists have been ambushing vehicles and using grenades and armour-piercing bullets, as well as M4 assault rifles.

Sources said the use of sophisticated weapons by terrorists indicates a significant escalation in the threat level.

Analysts say that over the last couple of years, the Pir Panjal region dividing Kashmir Valley from Jammu has witnessed a surge in militancy as anti-terror operations in Kashmir have pushed terrorists to the mountains where they hide and wait for the right moment to carry out attacks on security forces.