AK rifle recovered from Surankote river
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 21: Alert troops today foiled an infiltration bid on the Line of Control (LoC) in Balakote sector of Poonch district by killing two Pakistani militants.
Bodies of the slain militants could not be retrieved as they managed to flee across the Line of Control (LoC) before succumbing to their injuries, suffered during a gunfight with the Army, an Army spokesperson said.
One AK-47 rifle, two magazines, 30 rounds, two hand grenades and some medicines of Pakistani origin were recovered from the scene of the gunfight in Balakote sector.
Lt Col Suneel Bartwal, Jammu-based defence PRO, said, “Intelligence inputs received from multiple agencies and police revealed the presence of militants waiting to cross the LoC from opposite own Balakote sector. Based on these inputs, own surveillance grid was placed on heightened alert and multiple ambushes were sited at suitable location.”
He said the alert troops detected the two Pakistani militants attempting to cross the LoC into the Indian side, taking advantage of the inclement weather, dense fog, thick foliage and undulating grounds in the Hamirpur area of Balakote early today.
“As the militants approached own ambush sites, they were challenged and then engaged with effective fire. This forced the militants to flee from the ambush site by making use of the weather and ground conditions,” the official said.
He further said, “However, effective fire resulted in one militants falling down on the ground near the LoC. Additional troops were then moved into the area and search operations commenced in the afternoon after improvement of weather conditions and visibility.”
“During the search, blood trails leading towards the LoC were also detected,” he said and added, “As per intelligence inputs, the two militants who attempted to infiltrate were injured but still managed to return across the LoC and later succumbed.”
Lt Col Bartwal said the Indian troops continue to remain on alert and maintain vigil to foil any infiltration attempts from across the border.
This was the second infiltration bid that the Army has scuttled along the LoC in Poonch this month.
On August 7, a self-styled divisional commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen and his bodyguard were killed when they attempted to infiltrate into the Indian side to revive the activities of the proscribed outfit in the district.
While the body of Muneser Hussain, the Hizbul commander, was retrieved along with a huge cache of arms and ammunition, that of his bodyguard could not be recovered as he managed to return to the other side of the LoC in the Degwar sector.
Meanwhile, Army today recovered one AK-47 rifle from a river in Dundhak area of Surankote tehsil in Poonch district.
Troops went inside the river after getting information that an Ak-47 rifle has been stuck there.
Investigations are on to find out how AK rifle reached the river.
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