SRINAGAR: Just days after the deadly attack in Pahalgam that claimed 26 innocent lives, security forces uncovered a terrorist base hidden deep within natural caves in Hari village of Surankote, in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district. The discovery was made during a coordinated search mission conducted jointly by the Indian Army and Jammu & Kashmir Police on Sunday evening.
According to senior police authorities, the forces launched a sweep-and-secure mission—officially known as a Cordon and Search Operation (CASO)—following intelligence inputs. The search led them to a secretive underground shelter camouflaged amid rocky terrain.
During the raid, soldiers recovered four to five crude improvised explosive devices (IEDs), some stored inside a metal lunch container, along with powdered explosive material, communication instruments, articles of clothing, and various other suspicious objects.
Experts on-site immediately defused the explosives to eliminate any threat of detonation. Authorities confirmed that the area continues to be monitored, with follow-up searches underway to trace additional terrorist activity in the vicinity.
In response to the Pahalgam massacre that shook the region on April 22, security agencies have intensified counter-terror offensives throughout Jammu and Kashmir. Multiple raids are being executed to uncover hidden arms caches, demolish terrorist shelters, and detain individuals suspected of aiding terror networks.
Officials disclosed that this recent operation in Poonch is one among many being conducted across the region as part of a wider crackdown aimed at dismantling the infrastructure that supports terrorism. The goal, they said, is not only to neutralise present threats but to send a firm signal in the wake of the Baisaran killings.
The attack in Pahalgam, which targeted a popular tourist hub in Anantnag district, saw heavily armed terrorists fire indiscriminately at vacationers—most of them from outside Jammu and Kashmir—leaving 26 dead. The assault has reignited tensions between India and Pakistan, with New Delhi squarely blaming cross-border terror outfits for orchestrating the bloodshed.
