Jammu/Rajouri, March 28

Four terrorists, believed to be members of a suicide squad, were on Wednesday killed in a day-long encounter with the security forces in Sunderbani area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district. They had infiltrated into the Indian territory from across the Line of Control (LoC) four-five days ago, prompting the forces to launch a search operation.The militants were trapped inside a forest near Sutra village on Sunderbani outskirts after locals informed the police and the security forces about their presence in the area. “The search operation was on for a few days. But it was on Wednesday morning that the forces came in contact with the militants near Sunderbani. During the operation, four militants were gunned down,” Shesh Paul Vaid, the state DGP, told The Tribune. The operation was conducted jointly by the police, the Army, the BSF and the CRPF.  Sources said the militants, who infiltrated from Keri-Battal area, covered a distance of 10 km and hid themselves in a forest near Kalideh village. A search was conducted on March 24 in Peli, Phalli, Kuldabi and adjoining villages, but with no success.“On Sunday evening, the terrorists purchased food items from the market. An alert was sounded and a search conducted. The next day at about 9 pm, two terrorists entered a house in Lower Bhajwal village (near Jogi Nullah), collected food and vanished. Again a search was launched.”At about 10 am on Wednesday, the terrorists purchased food from a shop in the vicinity of Jogi Nullah and were traced by the security forces,” the sources said.“The contact with militants was established at 10 am after which the security forces zeroed-in on them. All of them have been killed, but the sanitisation operation will continue,” Col NN Joshi said, adding the identity of the militants was yet to be ascertained. As a precautionary measure, the district administration in Rajouri had ordered the closure of educational institutions in Sunderbani area.