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Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Aug 16: Army today said that the five militants killed in Uri sector along Line of Control (LoC) yesterday were from Afzal Guru squad of Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) and had come to carry out a major strike in North Kashmir.
The General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Baramulla-based 19 Infantry Division, Major General JS Nain, said that the militants were heavily armed and were intending to carry out a major strike against military or civil installation in peaceful areas of the Valley including Uri and Gulmarg sectors on Independence Day in order to get media attention.
The GOC said that the militants were highly armed and a huge cache of arms and ammunition were recovered from them. “Two AK 47 rifles, 3 AK 56 rifles, 22 magazines, three UBGL launchers, 27 UBGL grenades and 21 Chinese grenades were recovered from their possession,” the GOC said.
While giving details of the operation, Major General Nain said: “On 15th August morning, a group of 5 terrorists had infiltrated into Uri sector and army launched an operation and eliminated them. A large cache of arms, ammunition and explosive was recovered from their possession. As they were carrying large quantity of ammunition and explosives besides weaponry, it looks that they had come to carry out a major strike on civil or military target. They wanted to carry out strike in the area where the impact of the unrest is not there. They were in combat dress and came in early in the morning. They had chosen a day on which they wanted to get media publicity. They wanted to carry out a major strike on the occasion of Independence Day but their plan was foiled as Army killed all of them”.
The Army officer said it is difficult to say whether they were on Fidayeen mission or not but they had come to carry out a major strike. “It is very difficult to say that they were Fidayeen and by the arms and ammunition that was recovered, it looks that they had come inside to carry out a big strike. They were killed between the LoC and fence and Army didn’t allow them to get in”.
Major General Nain said that Army was alert as usual and they foiled their attempt by carrying out a successful operation. “The inputs of Fidayeen attacks on the occasion of 15th August or 26th January keep coming and for Army every day is 15th August. We have to be alert all the time as they are waiting for any opportunity to sneak in. We had some inputs about them and we were already alert”, he said.
The GOC said that ISI and militant organizations want to infiltrate as many militants as they can whenever there is unrest. “The ISI and terrorist organizations want to infiltrate as many terrorists as they can whenever there is turmoil in Valley. It is very difficult to say how many terrorists have infiltrated since the turmoil in Valley for last over a month. But army has foiled several of their attempts in last one month. It is very difficult to say how many are in launching pads and it varies. Whatever their numbers we are ready to foil their designs”, he said
The Army officer said that troops in Northern Command are alert and “we are ready and whosoever tries to sneak it will meet the same fate as the five of them met yesterday”.
Earlier Army foiled a major infiltration bid yesterday and eliminated five militants along the LoC in Uri sector of North Kashmir.
“Alert troops noticed some suspicious movement along the Line of Control in Uri Sector in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district this morning and challenged the intruders,” the Army spokesman said. He said the intruders opened firing towards the Army positions which was retaliated by the soldiers.”Five militants were killed in the encounter,” he said.
Two militants and a Commandant of Central Reserve Police Force were killed and nine security personnel injured during a gunfight in old Srinagar yesterday.
The gunfight took place in Nowhatta area, adjacent to historic Jamia Masjid. The encounter started Monday morning. The officer has been identified as Commandant as Pramod Kumar of 49 Battalion of CRPF. Besides officiating Commandant, Kumar was Staff Officer to Deputy Inspector General of CRPF, North Srinagar.
Police said that Kumar along with CRPF column had assembled in the premise of the building. “Soon after they (CRPF) assembled at around 8 AM, hiding militants opened fire and lobbed hand grenades on them resulting in injuries to nine paramilitary personnel,” police said adding they were evacuated to 92 Base Hospital of Army, where the Commandant succumbed to his injuries.
The injured CRPF personnel were identified as Assistant Sub-Inspector Manohar Lal, Head Constable M Morgan, HC Inderjeet, Surinder Kumar, Constable Amit Kumar, Constable Vijay Kumar from 28 Battalion and Dileep Das of 47 Battalion. The injured police constable has been identified as Rouf Ahmad. He has been airlifted to AIIMS for treatment. He has received a bullet in his neck.
Commandant Pramod Kumar, 44, was hit by bullets in his head. He was a resident of Burdwan district of West Bengal.
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