Another Infiltration Bid along LoC Foiled; 2 Militants Killed

Srinagar: The Indian security forces on Wednesday gunned down two militants after they breached the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri sector to sneak into Jammu and Kashmir from PoJK, the officials said.

“This was the third such attempt made by the Pakistan-backed terrorists along the LoC during the past one month,” a defence official said, adding that eight infiltrators were killed in earlier incidents.

Confirming the killing of two infiltrators in the latest incident, the Kashmir zone police wrote on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), “Update from #Uri, Baramulla: Two infiltrating terrorists neutralized by vigilant security forces. Recovered incriminating materials, arms & ammunition. Extensive search operations are on.”.

Earlier a defence spokesman had said here that a group of armed militants breached the LoC in the Uri sector to sneak into J&K after taking advantage of low visibility and bad weather in the area. “The group was challenged by alert troops deployed on the LoC and during the exchange of fire two terrorists were killed,” he added.

On October 26, the Indian Army and the J&K police had said that they together gunned down five infiltrating militants during a clash along the LoC in the Machil sector in north-western Kupwara district.

Earlier three infiltrators were killed in a similar clash that took place along the de facto border in neighbouring Baramulla district on October 21-22.

However, the Pakistani authorities had claimed that the five persons killed by the Indian security forces on October 26 were “innocent residents” of POJK who had gone to a forested area near the LoC to collect herbs.

A senior Indian Army office recently said that a “constant effort” is being made from across the western borders to disturb peace in J&K. He, however, also said that the Army and other security forces including the J&K police are determined to foil the effort.

“There are continuous infiltration attempts from the other side of the border. In the last eight months as many as ten infiltration bids were made along the LoC in our divisional area of responsibility alone, the latest on Thursday (October 26). But all these attempts were foiled by the security forces,” GoC of the 28 Infantry Division of the Indian Army, Major General Girish Kalia, had said.