Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Aug 3: Army today foiled an infiltration bid along the Line of Control (LoC) in Tangdhar sector of North Kashmir killing two militants while an Army man also lost his life in the operation.
Elsewhere, a militant was killed in a fierce encounter with security forces in Mooldari forests of Handwara while two more operation in the area have been launched in Makal and Rajwar forests along LoC after reports of militant presence in these forests.
General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Kupwara based 28 Division of Army, Major General Lalit Panday told reporters in Kupwara that troops on the LoC in Tangdhar sector noticed a group of militants sneaking in from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) early this morning under the cover of darkness.
“We challenged and asked them to surrender, but they opened fire leading to a gun battle in which two militants were killed. The gun battle lasted for about half an hour. One of our soldiers also lost his life in the encounter”, the GOC said.
Sources said that one Army jawan was injured in the encounter. “The dead Army jawan has been identified as Ram Bahadur Drung and injured as Om Raj Durra”, they added.
The Army Commander said that the search operation in the dense woods is still going on. He said that the troops on the LoC are alert as the militants are making attempts to sneak in.
The GOC said that the counter infiltration measures and devices that are put in place are working nicely and Army is achieving successes after successes by foiling the infiltration bid along the LoC.
The Army Commander said that the groups that made infiltration attempts and were killed belonged to Lashkar-e-Toiba, Hizbul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammad.
This was second infiltration bid in Tangdhar sector during the past 24 hours that was foiled by Army. Early yesterday a militant was killed by troops when he was trying to sneak in.
Army along the LoC has achieved major success for past one month eliminating around two dozen militant along the LoC and forests area of North Kashmir.
Major General Panday said that around 350 militants are waiting for infiltration on launching pads across the LoC in Tangdhar, Keran, Macchil and Gurez sectors. He said that Army is on high along the LoC to foil any attempt by militants to infiltrate.
Army today also killed a militant commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba in the Mooldari forests of Handwara in the frontier district of Kupwara. The 21 Rashtriya Rifles of the Army and SOG Handwara launched an operation in Mooldari forests after information that one of the militants who survived in the Hafrooda forest encounter was hiding in the area.
The militant on being spotted early today was fired upon by the troops leading to a gun battle in which he was killed. One AK-47 rifle, 3 magazine, one grenade, one pistol and war like stores were recovered from him. Sources identified him as LeT commander Abdullah who was leading the group and had escaped from Hafrooda forests.
It may be mentioned here that the group that was spotted on July 29 by the security and 5 members of the group were killed on August 1 while 3 Army personnel were also injured in the operation.
In the meantime, Army and SOG Handwara launched massive search operations in the Handwara forests along the LoC in the frontier district of Kupwara.
Sources said that 14 Garwal and SOG Handwara launched an operation in Makal forest of Handwara after information about the presence of militants in the area.
“The 30 RR of Army and SOG Handwara launched another operation in Rangwar forest of Handwara after reports of militant presence in the area”, sources said.
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