For 12 days, security forces were locked in a fierce encounter with a Lashkar group in J&K’s Akhal forest, the longest such operation in recent history, highlighting the growing shift of terrorism from urban to jungle warfare.
00:00Now breaking news that's coming in at the top of the bulletin.
00:03First visuals in fact come in from inside the Akhal forest area where for 12 days
00:08forces were locked in an intense fire fight with the Lashkar group.
00:14The operation was the longest in the recent history.
00:17It has also brought to fore the magnitude of the challenge the forces have at hand
00:23as treasures removed from urban to the jungle theatre in the valley.
00:27For 12 days remember forces used whatever resources was in fact available to them
00:32to neutralise the highly trained Lashkar group who were equipped with weapons and devices
00:39and they were the very equipments that we're speaking of be it the weapons and devices
00:44they were tailor-made for jungle warfare, American M4 rifles, long scoops,
00:50importantly night vision devices, military grade GPS.
00:53What was also significant here was the fact the recovery of protein chocolate bars
01:00as well as dry high-calorie ration which is what seemingly kept them going for the complete duration
01:07of the operation without the need for ration supplies.
01:10This is the first visuals that we're bringing to you from inside of the Akhal forest area itself
01:16where security forces were engaged in a 12-day long and intense fire fight
01:21with the Lashkar-e-Toiba group in Jammu-Kishmir's Kilgam district.
01:25And the operation, as can be understood from the challenges that have already been in fact mentioned here,
01:34was extremely long.
01:36It was one of the longest and the most challenging encounters
01:39that we've witnessed in the recent times.
01:41We're going to pour out a few minutes
02:04through the safety nets.
02:04Meir Farid joins us on the broadcast to in fact bring us more details on this very operation itself.
02:17Meir, a very good morning to you.
02:19It is, as we are in fact describing it, to be one of the longest and the most challenging encounters that we see at this given point.
02:26Take us through some of the operational details as to how the resources available to the forces there were used by them.
02:34Well, this, as you rightly said, was the longest integer operation of recent times and it was happening deep inside the dense Akhal forest area of South Kashmir.
02:46And for 12 days, the security forces that the army, police, CRPF used, whatever resources they had, in fact, be it weaponry, ordnance, ammunition or aerial surveillance.
02:58But due to the tough topography, the dense jungles, which were used by the Lashkar group, which was very heavily armed, trained for jungle warfare and had all the necessary equipment to sustain in the forest and engage in this jungle warfare.
03:14They had the long range scopes, night vision devices, importantly, and also dry ration.
03:21Now, this tells you that this new wave of terror in the forest area, it is well planned and they have come in for a long haul to sustain in the forest area and they have the weaponry and the ration to do it.
03:35Now, this operation continued for 12 days. The army lost two soldiers, 12 others were injured, one terrorist was killed, but four others managed to give a slip to the security forces.
03:45Now, what has come to fore is a new challenge where this terror activity has moved from urban theater, that is, built-up areas, villages, towns to rural, or should I say, jungle city.
03:58Now, sources say that to counter this, new strategy, new SOPs will come up and there could be a multi-agency meeting where new strategy, new SOPs will be devised.
04:09Because, according to certain estimates, 80 to 90 heavily armed, non-local cadre of Lashkar and Jayash have scattered themselves in the forest area from Jammu to Kashmir, especially South Kashmir exits from Kokarnak to Kashtawar.
04:24And to flush them out, you will need to go inside the forest area.
04:28And this operation, obviously, has brought to fore the fact that there are certain things that need to be covered.
04:36Very true. Meera, I'll come back to you. Just give us a second here, as we are getting more visuals here, to just show our viewers what the situation was like on the ground, to give them a clearer picture.
05:06Meera, coming back to you. You know, when we speak of the entire theater of war at this given point against terrorism, having moved from the urban area to the jungles, one of the biggest troubles here is the terrain.
05:23Especially if we speak of the upcoming winters, we will see situations worsening there in terms of the challenges that our forces face on the ground.
05:32Just take us through that very aspect of it. Terrain-wise, how difficult it is for our forces to, in fact, operate from the jungles here.
05:40Well, if you see these visuals, you'll get a first-hand account of the challenges, because if you talk of the jungles, these are very dense jungles.
05:50Now, these visuals tell you that the visibility, once you go in, is hardly a few meters, in fact, a few feet at certain locations.
05:58And then you have natural privacies, caves, you have dense foliage.
06:03So this is the new terror theater, the places where these operations will happen in the future.
06:08And that's why the security agencies are also recalibrating, going back to the drawing board and re-strategizing.
06:15Now, as a part of which we also come to know, sources say that the army, which was operational in a big way in the urban areas, in towns, villages,
06:24since the footprint of terror has come down, its residual level as far as cities are concerned.
06:30So they may be repositioned, their footprint will come down in the cities,
06:35and they'll be repositioned on the line of control and for specific forest operations.
06:39So that tells you that German Kashmir police and CRPF will have a bigger role.
06:43Our sources say that the Cobra Battalion, the Cobra we know, has operated successfully in the Naxal Theater,
06:49anti-terror operations deep inside the forest area.
06:52So they have the necessary experience and they know how to fight in the forest.
06:57So those units will be brought in.
06:59Some are already here for acclimatization and knowing the area.
07:03So you'll see a big shift as far as anti-terror push and the strategy in the coming days are concerned.
07:09And Aqal operation obviously bringing to fore the kind of new challenges, this new...
07:15Absolutely. There are new challenges that we are talking of in this very terrain.
07:19where the terror theater seems to move to, that is the jungles from the urban areas.
07:25Thank you, Mir, for bringing us all those details.
07:27Viewers, these are the visuals that we leave you with at this point on this very story.
07:32And that's all the details as well that we have for you on this operation Akal.
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