Army busts militant hideout in J-K, arms and ammunition found

Jammu, Dec 26: The Army today busted a militant hideout in the Chilli forest area in Doda district here and found a huge quantity of arms and ammunition, a defense spokesperson said.

"Acting on specific information, Sohanda based Rashtriya Rifles launched a joint search operation in Chilli Forest area in Doda district and busted a militant hideout," Defense Spokesman Lt Col Manish Mehta said.

He said the Army recovered a huge cache of arms, which includes one chinese pistol, one country-made pistol, two rifles (.12 bore), four magazines of AK-47 rifle, one chinese grenade, two high-explosives grenade, four UBGL grenades, 190 rounds of 7.62mm AK-47, 25 rounds 7.62mm PIKA, one night vision device and other sustenance items such as a stove, five plates, two bowl, one steel glass, two gunny bags, and one blanket.

The militants had used a natural cave in the Chilli forest as their hideout, he said. "The Army has been getting information of activities of unidentified persons in the area recently and therefore, a close watch was being maintained in the area," Mehta said, adding, the recovered arms likely belong to one of the old outfits of the area and have been hidden for use later.

The arms were well hidden and concealed in a natural cave of size approximately 4 feet in width and 10 feet in depth in the remote and dense forest of Chilli, he said.

"The recovery of arms was possible only due to the accurate intelligence available with the Army and launching of well synchronised joint operation with Jammu and Kashmir Police despite harsh snow conditions," the spokesperson said. Today's recovery is the second consecutive recovery in the last two days.

PTI