Zaloora operation called off, militants flee

Srinagar: Army and Special Operations Group (SOG) of police on Saturday called off search operations in Zaloora forests of Sopore where a group of militants was holed up for the last three days.

Sources told that Army’s 47 and 22 RR joined by SOG personnel called off the search operation in Zaloora area of Sopore after three days of intense searches in the dense forests failed to track down a group of at least seven heavily armed Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants who were on the run after one of their colleague Ubaidullah was killed in an encounter on Thursday.

In the last three days, sources said the joint team conducted thorough searches of the forests to trace the militants. The Army and SOG, they said fired hundreds of rounds and mortars in different directions of the forested area in a bid to track the location of the militants.

“Army and SOG pulled out of the forest area this morning. They believe the militants have fled from the area,” sources added.