Major infiltration bid foiled; 5 militants, soldier killed in Uri

Fayaz Bukhari

Srinagar, July 3: In a major success against infiltrating militants, Army today foiled a major infiltration bid in Torna sector on the Line of Control (LoC), in Uri area of district Baramulla killing 5 heavily armed militants.
A senior Army officer told Excelsior that around 6-8 militants had sneaked into this side near Noori Post last night. Army noticed their movement and they were intercepted by Army’s 8 Sikh Regiment early today in Sallar forest area along Line of Control (LoC) in Chotali village of Boniyar.
The militants were challenged and they fired back at Army. The Army retaliated leading to a fierce gun battle.
The enforcements were rushed to the area from nearby Army units and Army Commandos were also brought in for the operation. Three militants were killed in the gun battle in the morning. Two more were also killed by the Army in the afternoon.
Two Army personnel Zarmal Singh and Harpreet Singh of 8 Sikh Regiment were injured in the gun battle. They were immediately evacuated to military hospital for treatment. However, Harpreet Singh who was injured this evening succumbed to injuries.
Reports said that some of the militants of the group are firing from across on the other side of the LoC on the Army. It has led to the difficulty in retrieving the bodies.
The Brigadier General Staff (BGS) 15 Corps, Brigadier Ali Adil Mehmood told Excelsior that one terrorist was killed so far and Army lost one of its jawans. He said that the operation is taking place on the LoC and the number of infiltrators is not known yet. He said that it is dense forest area and they are conducting searches. “Since, the area where operation is on is right on LoC and some terrorists might have fled back”, he added.
A defence spokesman said here that in early hours today, Army troops deployed along the Line of Control near Torna suspected some suspicious movement of an infiltration group along Hapathkai Nala.
“The area has a robust counter infiltration grid and the infiltration was detected within meters of the Line of Control. A fierce encounter ensued between the Army soldiers and the heavily armed militants resulting in the killing of one militant and one jawan and injuring another jawan. The militants later took cover in the dense jungle and rocky terrain. As per last reports, operation is still in progress”, the spokesman said.
This is after over a decade that any infiltration attempt was made by the militants in Rampur sector of the LoC in Uri.
This is the sixth infiltration bid that was foiled this year by Army along LoC in Kashmir in which 15 infiltrators were killed. Army also lost two men in its fight against the infiltrators on the LoC this year.
Last year, Army killed 59 militants along the LoC which is highest so far in past over a decade.

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