Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 19: Army has recovered Pakistan made mines and other equipments from forward village of Jogwan in Khour area of Pallanwalla sector, where an Army jawan was killed and three others were injured in firing by the unidentified armed personnel yesterday.
Official sources said the Army personnel during searches conducted along the LoC at Jogwan today recovered Pakistan made mines and some other material from the site where an Army jawan was killed and three others were injured in the firing yesterday morning.
“Search of the area yielded Pakistan made mines, one bag, one Night Vision Device (NVD), food items and other equipments, which clearly indicated involvement of Pakistan and terrorists from across the Line of Control (LoC) in the firing,” they said.
Army jawan Sepoy Bhikale Uttam Balu was killed in the firing while three others were injured.
Sources said the troops had retaliated from this side by the casualties suffered by the fleeing personnel were not known yet. However, they didn’t rule out the casualties on the group of unidentified armed personnel, who opened the firing.
It may be mentioned here that the Army jawans were fired upon then they had gone to rescue a jawan injured in mine blast on the LoC while inspecting fencing. The troops had retaliated.
Sources didn’t rule out the possibility of the militants making an attempt to sneak into this side under the cover of firing. To ensure that no militant had managed to infiltrate, Army conducted intense searches in the area and recovered the Pakistan made mines. However, there were no traces of any successful infiltration attempt but sources said a search operation in the area was still on.
Meanwhile, General Officer Commanding (GOC), White Knight Corps Lt Gen K H Singh had expressed deepest condolences to the family of Sepoy Bhikale, who attained martyrdom in yesterday’s firing. Sepoy Bhikale is survived by his wife and a daughter.
The mortal remains of this brave soldier were dispatched with full military honours to his native village in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra. Before he began his final journey, he was honoured in a small ceremony in his battalion by his fellow soldiers. Wreaths were also laid on behalf of General Officer Commanding, White Knight Corps and other senior officers to commemorate his sacrifice.
Worthwhile to mention here that on May 18 early morning, a group of three infiltrators had entered into this side of LoC and planted an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) near a forward post in Bhimber Gali belt of Rajouri but alert troops foiled their attack by destroying the IED without any casualty or damage to the property.
On May 10, two militants were killed when they tried to attack a patrol party in a bid to infiltrate into Indian territory along Line of Control (LoC) in Kalsia belt of Poonch district of J&K in which one jawan suffered injuries.
Army officials said the ceasefire violations and firing by Pakistani troops were aimed at helping militants infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir from across the border from the “launching pads” along LoC, where they are waiting to crossover.
There had been three infiltration bids and eight ceasefire violations by terrorists and Pak troops along LoC in J&K in last over three weeks.
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