Shopian: A day after the killing of two teenaged local militants at Kutpora village, government forces on Wednesday launched a massive cordon and search operation (CASO) at Turkwangam village, some 12 kilometers from district headquarters Shopian.
Locals from Turkwangam village said that when they woke up in the morning, they saw the village cordoned by a joint team of government forces including 44 Rashtriya Rifles of army, Jammu and Kashmir Police and 178th Battalion of Central Reserve Police Force.
A local said that he heard about the arrival of forces at midnight itself.
Turkwangam village has about 1,000 households and it has been after a long time that the village was cordoned by government forces. A villager told Kashmir Reader that they were not allowed to move out of their houses despite it being the peak season for fruit trees’ pruning. He said that only those facing medical emergency were allowed to leave the village.
A police source said that forces from different camps were called for the operation. He said that the CASO was launched after inputs about the presence of a group of militants in the village.
Another local said that the parents of a local militant were told to make an announcement on loudspeaker to ask their son to lay down arms and surrender. However, neither this militant nor any other came forward.
Villagers said that door to door searches were carried out in some localities.
The cordon and search operation was still going on when this report was filed.

Raashid Hassan