JAMMU: Security forces on Wednesday stepped up an ongoing search operation by extending the cordon to track down and neutralise terrorists in remote villages of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district, officials said.

Several gunshots were heard when the security forces launched the operation in the Najote forest area in Billawar tehsil on Tuesday based on information about the presence of a terrorist there.

There was no contact between the terrorist and the security forces. Fresh inputs suggested that he managed to escape the cordon by taking advantage of the treacherous terrain and darkness, the officials said.