Doda terror attacks: J&K Police releases 4 terrorists’ sketch, announces reward

The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Wednesday released sketches of four terrorists involved in two attacks in Doda district and announced a reward of ₹20 lakh for information leading to their arrest. On Tuesday, terrorists fired on a joint checkpoint of the 4 Rashtriya Rifles and police at Chattergalla in Bhaderwah. On Wednesday, a search party in the Gandoh area of the district was attacked, resulting in injuries to seven security personnel, including a policeman.
“Jammu and Kashmir Police has released sketches of four terrorists who are believed to be in the upper reaches of Bhaderwah, Thathri, Gandoh and carrying out terror-related activities,” a police spokesperson said.
The police spokesperson said a cash reward of ₹5 lakh for information about each of the terrorists has also been announced.
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The Jammu and Kashmir Police also appealed to the people to provide information about the presence and movement of these terrorists.
Five soldiers and two police officers were injured in separate encounters on Wednesday after one group of terrorists attacked a checkpost in the upper reaches of Doda, and another fired at security forces hours later, marking two of the three gunbattles in 26 hours that have rocked Jammu and sent ripples of fear through the region fast becoming the hotbed of cross-border terrorism in the restive Union territory.
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In the first attack, a group of three to four terrorists opened fire on a joint checkpost of the 4 Rashtriya Rifles and the Jammu & Kashmir Police in Doda’s Chattargala area on the Bhaderwah-Pathankot road at 1.45am on Wednesday morning. The ensuing gunbattle lasted several hours, leaving five army personnel and a special police officer injured.
Officers said the second attack was in the Kota Top area, 150km away from Chhattargala, when a second group of terrorists attacked a police team and injured head constable Fareed Ahmed.
Roughly 220km away in Kathua raged another gunbattle that began late on Tuesday night and continued into Wednesday morning, leaving one Central Reserve Police Force jawan dead, six security personnel and one civilian injured, and two terrorists neutralised.
Senior police officers suggested that Jammu was seeing a shift from “resident terrorism” to “foreign terrorism.” “This means that the numbers of our local boys who used to join the terror ranks have come down. Foreign terrorism is there… as of today 70-80 such terrorists have come with arms and ammunitions,” said director general of police RR Swain.
Without naming Pakistan, additional director general of police Anand Jain said the “hostile” neighbour was always making attempts to disturb peace in the Jammu region.
On Tuesday night, the police released a sketch of a terrorist involved in the attack on a passenger bus in Reasi district and announced a ₹20 lakh reward for information about him.
On June 9, terrorists opened fire at a 53-seater bus carrying pilgrims when it was en route from the Shiv Khori temple to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra near Teryath village in the Poni area.
The bus, which was ferrying pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi, plunged into a deep gorge following the gunfire, killing nine people and injuring 42 others.