Troops ask villagers to assemble in common area for better search of homes
Indian army soldiers patrol during an operation against suspected militants in Turkwangam Lassipora in Shopian south of Srinagar on Thursday. Pic/AFP
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Helicopters and drones circled the air and more than 4,000 troops fanned out across south Kashmir’s Shopian district in a massive operation to flush out militants holed up inside homes.
The operation targeting militants, who have been hiding in the area and striking against security forces, began in the early hours of the morning with security forces, comprising the army, police and CRPF, marching into more than a dozen villages in the district, army sources said. There have been no casualties so far.
The operation in Shopian, about 55 km from here, was perhaps the biggest in more than a decade in the troubled Kashmir Valley, an army official said.
Door-to-door search of houses, a practice stopped in the late 1990s, was re-introduced yesterday. The troops asked all villagers to assemble in a common area so a proper search of their homes could be carried out.
"We do not wish to have any civilian casualty and the measure was, therefore, required," said a senior army official engaged in the operation.
The cordon and search operation (CASO) followed intelligence inputs about the presence of militants, including foreign terrorists, in the area, an official said. However, no contact had been established with the militants so far.
Barring a minor stone pelting incident at Turkawangan village, the operation was going on smoothly, an official said.
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