Shopian village remains under CASO for second day on trot; houses, orchards searched

Shopian: The cordon-and-search-operation (CASO) in Turkwangam village of south Kashmir’s Shopian district continued for the second day on the trot on Thursday.

Joint forces including soldiers from 44 Rashtriya Rifles, CRPF and Police had brought the village under siege on Wednesday morning. Locals say the forces arrived in the village on Tuesday night.

Quoting officials, Kashmir News Trust (KNT) reported that the search operation in the village was launched after receiving inputs about the presence of militants there.

Locals said that thorough searches are being made. They said the forces used sniffer dogs and even orchards were searched.

“No contact with militants has been established so far,” a local said, adding that there is a massive military presence in the village.

Turkwangam hamlet witnessed many gunfights in the recent past. It is the native village of some top slain militant commanders.

Earlier in June this year, three militants including Hizbul Mujahideen district Commander Zubair Wani of Turkwangam; Kamran Manhas, nephew of former PDP MLC Zaffar Iqbal Manhas, a resident of Sharaab Kareena and Muneeb-ul-Haq of Sugan Zainapora Shopian were killed in a gunfight in the village. KNT