High alert in Jammu, presence of more militants suspected

Security has been beefed up in areas along the IB and LoC and police has intensified frisking and checking of vehicles with all entry and exit points in the city being sealed.

"There could be more infiltrators hiding in some other areas on the outskirts of the city and the need is to maintain vigilance," Director General of Police (DGP) Kuldeep Khoda said.

A high alert has been sounded here and police stations have been asked to monitor the situation round the clock in their respective areas, he said.

Search and combing operations have been launched in Muthi, Gajansoo, Marh, Akhnoor, Gharota, Hiranagar and other places, including the adjoining border areas, were on, Khoda said.

Besides screening of vehicles is being done by multi-tier security agencies, including the CRPF and Army, he said.

The Army has been deployed for the purpose as an important section of the track runs close to the Indo-Pak border in Samba and Hiranagar districts, he said.

Security forces had killed three militants who held 11 people captive for 19 hours in a house near Jammu on Thursday.

Three of the hostages were killed while the others, including four children, were safe.

The three militants, who had sneaked into Jammu through Kanachak border under the cover of Pakistani firing on Thursday, were holed up in a house at Chinore near Jammu.

Besides this, patrolling by the Government Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force jawans has been intensified, Khoda said.

Militants from Pakistan had in 1999, 2000 and 2002 crossed the international border (IB) and targeted trains and tracks in Samba and Hiranagar areas by triggering blasts.

BSF and Army troops have also beefed up security along the IB and the Line of Control (LoC) and the Village Defence Committees (VDC) have been activated to keep an eye on the movement of suspected and unknown persons in the forward areas.

According to intelligence inputs, a large number of militants are planning to infiltrate into this side along the LoC and IB, defence sources said.