Jammu, July 14, 2026
Joint security forces launched a search operation in the Thanamandi area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district on Tuesday after local villagers claimed to have seen two terrorists.
Officials said a massive search operation was launched across some villages in the Thanamandi area after CCTV footage purportedly captured the movement of two suspected terrorists.
The suspected terrorists were caught on CCTV crossing a road late on Sunday night, prompting the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the local police, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and the Army to launch a coordinated search operation in the area, the officials said.
Acting on the footage, the search parties fanned out across Bhanghai, Hasplote, Karyote, Kopra top, and adjoining forested villages to trace the two individuals, the officials said. The search operation is now underway in the area, although so far there has been ‘no contact’ (Exchange of gunfire) with the terrorists.
The operation is part of a prolonged anti-terror hunt, codenamed “Operation Sheruwali,” which began in May 2026 and targeted suspected terrorist hideouts and infiltration routes across dense forest regions in the Manjakote and Sunderbani sectors.
Terrorism in the Rajouri district has been heavily shaped by its proximity to the Line of Control (LoC). The region experienced its most intense phase of militancy in the late 1990s and early 2000s, characterised by targeted massacres designed to displace local communities.
Operating out of the dense forests and mountainous terrain, terrorist groups launched a series of brutal attacks against Hindu minority communities, including the 1997 massacre of eight villagers and the 1999 Baliyara village attack where seven civilians attending a marriage procession were gunned down.
Following years of relative calm, violence saw a resurgence on January 1, 2023, when militants targeted the civilian population in Dhangri village, killing four people and injuring others, followed by a deadly IED blast the very next day.
In recent years, the region has seen a structural shift in terrorism. Heavily armed foreign terrorists have utilised Rajouri’s difficult terrain as a transit route and stronghold, leading to sustained anti-militancy drives like the massive Operation Sheruwali to flush out suspected hideouts in the dense woods of the Manjakote area.(Agency)
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