CASO called off at Saidpora

Baramulla: A massive Cordon and Search Operation (CASO) that was launched in the Saidpora area of Sopore in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district was called off peacefully on early Thursday afternoon.

The CASO was jointly launched by teams of J&K Police, Special Operations Group (SOG) of Police besides the 22 RR of the Army and 179 Battalion of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

A top official said that the CASO was launched late Wednesday afternoon after receiving input about the movement of terrorists in the area.

“The operation lasted for around 20 hours as we had inputs about the presence of terrorists in the area,” a top Army official said.

The top officers including Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sopore, Commanding Officer of 22 RR of the Army besides top officials of CRPF were personally supervising the operation and were present at the spot.

The SOG and Army were carrying out door-to-door searches of the houses in Saidpora village.

“Searches were carried out as we had received the information that some terrorists were hiding in the village,” the official said.

Baramulla district witnessed a surge in search operations and vigil at checkpoints has been intensified over the past few months, which has led to arrests of several terror associates and many terrorist modules have been busted in the joint operation of the Police, Army, and other security agencies.

J&K Police in Baramulla and the Army in a joint operation busted two terror modules in the district during the last two weeks which, according to Police, led to the arrest of an active Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terrorist and his eight associates including two females and a juvenile.

A top Army official said that the CASO was not carried out as a routine but was launched based on specific inputs.

“However, the operation was called off peacefully. We are still gathering inputs,” the officer said.