Indo-Pak troops trade fire in Keran
Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Dec 31: Army today foiled a major Border Action Team (BAT) strike at a forward post along the Line of Control in Nowgam Sector and killed two Pakistani soldiers.
A senior Army officer said that a group of Pakistani troops under the cover of thick forests and assisted by high caliber weapons firing, mortars and rockets, from Pakistani posts, attempted to carry out a major strike on an army post in Nowgam sector.
He said that the Army deployed along the LoC detected the movement of the Pakistani BAT. He said that Army strongly retaliated and the exchange of fire continued the whole night.
The officer said Army conducted prolonged search operations in thick forests and difficult terrain to ascertain the situation. He said that during the searches, two bodies of Pakistani troops were found and large cache of warlike stores were recovered.
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“The search operations are still underway in the sector to sanitise the area. A few other intruders managed to escape across the LoC, taking advantage of the Pakistani firing and adverse weather and visibility conditions”, the officer said.
He said that the intruders were wearing combat dresses like Pakistani Regulars and were carrying stores with Pakistani markings. “Some intruders were also seen in BSF and old pattern IA dresses as part of deception”, he said.
The officer said that they had intruded well equipped with IEDs, incendiary materials, explosives, and a plethora of arms and ammunition. “From the recovery, it was estimated that they intended to carry out a gruesome attack on the Indian Army forward post in Nowgam sector. The alertness and resilience of the own troops, who engaged and neutralised the intruders, thus eliminated a likely treacherous attack on the Army forward posts along the Line of Control on the eve of New Year”, he said.
The Defence spokesman said: “Army applauded the courage and perseverance of the alert troops. Army’s resolve to keep a strict vigil along the LoC and defeat all such nefarious designs of Pakistan will continue to remain firm and consistent.”.
“We will ask Pakistan to take back the mortal remains of deceased, who were likely Pakistani soldiers, since Pakistan did provide full covering fire support to these intruders”, the spokesman added.
And in Keran sector of North Kashmir’s Kupwara district, Pakistani troops violated ceasefire by firing at Army posts today. The Army retaliated by firing mortars at the Pakistani posts. The firing is intermittently going on.
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