For the third consecutive day, Operation Garole continues in the thick forests of Kokernag where a group of two to three terrorists, who were involved in the martyrdom of Colonel Manpreet Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Jammu and Kashmir Police, Humayun Muzamil Bhat and Major Aashish Dhonchak of the Army's 19 Rashtriya Rifles, have been encircled by security forces. Additional reinforcements have been sent into the area and hi-tech gadgetry has been deployed to prevent the terrorists from escaping. Discussing the operational details is not the motive of this piece. Suffice to say that the security forces are determined and well-equipped to take the battle to the enemy's land and take them out in order to avenge the killings of three brave-hearts who laid down their lives in the duty of the nation. This is the second time that security forces were ambushed inside a forested area in such a lethal manner. Last month, a group of terrorists staged a similar attack in the adjoining Halan village of Kulgam district where three army soldiers were martyred and two more suffered injuries while the perpetrators of the attack managed to escape. Over the last couple of years, terrorists seem to have taken the battle deep inside the forests which are their kill zones. We have seen similar attacks on security forces in Poonch and Rajouri areas of Pir Panjal too recently. A common thread that joins these attacks is the deadly precision with which the attackers manage to strike, suggesting that the perpetrators are not the poorly-trained Kashmiri youngsters who were sucked into the vortex of violence following the end of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani but some highly armed and professionally trained terrorists who have turned jungles into a battleground where they dictate the terms of engagement and also have an edge over security forces due to the knowledge of the terrain and grabbing of strategic locations in a way that the chance for security forces to retaliate shrinks drastically. It is being reported that these terrorists may have infiltrated into the Pir Panjal region and are now shuttling between central and south Kashmir regions to carry out the attacks on security forces. This strategy needs a recalibration of policy adopted by J&K's security grid. Under the leadership of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, and with the right men at the helm of the affairs in the security establishment, it is certain that the game of these terrorists will be brought to an end very soon.