NEW DELHI, Jan 4: About 18 companies of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) — around 1,800 personnel — are being rushed to Rajouri as part of the Centre’s decision to deploy more troops in the district in Jammu and Kashmir after the recent terrorist attack on Hindu families in the region. There is widespread panic following two terror attacks in a span of two weeks. Massive protests have taken place in the district, where many blame the administration for what they call its failure to protect the people.
For the last three days, hundreds of security forces personnel have been engaged in a massive search operation to track down terrorists behind the attack on Hindu families in Rajouri district. The army, police and the CRPF have launched a joint operation soon after the terrorist attacks of Sunday evening.
Six persons, two of them children, were killed and many more injured in two separate terror attacks in Upper Dangri village on Sunday evening and Monday morning. In the first attack, two armed terrorists barged into three homes on Sunday and opened indiscriminate fire. Four people were killed and six were injured.
The next day, two children were killed and at least five people were injured in an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) explosion in the same village during a cordon and search operation to track down the terrorists. The blast took place near the home of a victim of Sunday’s terror attack, where the terrorists apparently planted the IED, officials said.
These were the second and third instances of civilian killings in the district within two weeks — on December 16, two people were killed outside an Army camp. Sources say the Centre has put the J&K administration on notice to track down the terrorists soon.
The CRPF already has a massive presence in Jammu and Kashmir. Over 70 battalions, which is around one-third of the CRPF’s total strength, is deployed in the Union Territory.
(Manas Dasgupta)
