Jammu, Jun 01: Army on Monday claimed to have killed three heavily-armed Pakistani militants during a major infiltration bid along the Line of Control (LoC) in Nowshera sector of Rajouri district.
The Pakistani militants made the abortive attempt to sneak into the Kalal area of Nowshera from Pakistan-administered-Kashmir (PaK) on May 28 but were killed in the subsequent counter-infiltration operation, the officials said.
They said bodies of all the three militants were found by the search parties Monday morning but could not be retrieved due to close proximity of the enemy posts and the lurking threat of firing during any attempt to recover them.
“However, a large quantity of arms and ammunition, including two AK assault rifles with 13 filled magazines, a US-make M-16A2 rifle with six filled magazines, a 9-MM Chinese pistol, an Under Barrel Grenade Launcher (UBGL) with six grenades, five hand grenades and two knives, was recovered during the operation,” the officials said.
In addition, they said, a large quantity of food items, medicines and Rs 17,000 in Indian currency was recovered from the rucksacks which were found left abandoned by the militants while trying to flee back in the face of the heavy firing by the Indian Army.
The area is still under domination and operations are in progress, the officials said.
Meanwhile, security forces on Monday launched a major combing operation in half-a-dozen hamlets along the Line of Control in Poonch district following inputs of an infiltration bid by a group of militants, officials said.
The army and police launched a search and combing operation in six to seven hamlets along the LoC in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch early in the morning, they said.
The operation was going on when reports last came in, they said.
There was a movement of a group of militants along LoC in the area on Sunday night, according to reports.
Security forces also launched a search operation following “suspected movement” in the riverine areas along the International Border (IB) in Kathua-Samba sector, officials said.
The Border Security Force (BSF) and police launched the operation in the Hiranagar area late Sunday night after receiving information about the use of torch lights and suspected movement along the border, they said.
The entire area was cordoned off and searches conducted till Monday morning, the officials said.
The operation is going on in Samba sector’s riverine areas of Basantar and Eik Nalah areas, which are adjacent to Hiranagar, they said.
In the last few years, militants have infiltrated through Hiranagar and Samba and carried out attacks on army camps, police stations in Samba, Kathua, Jammu and Nagrota areas.
Checkpoints along the International Border and on the Jammu-Pathankot highway have been put on alert.
