Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 17: Army today eliminated sixth militant of a recently infiltrated group of militants, who were hiding in Handwara forests in North Kashmir’s Kupwara district near the Line of Control (LoC).
Army had launched a massive operation in the forests of North Kashmir’s Handwara area after they noticed movement of a recently infiltrated group into these forests. However, Army didn’t confirm whether the group has infiltrated through Line of Control (LoC) or has used Nepal route to infiltrate into Kashmir.
A senior Army officer said here that it was probably a group of 8-10 militants who were noticed in Handwara forests last month. He said that security forces launched a massive operation in these forests to eliminate the militants.
The officer said here that today’s operation was launched last night by the troops of 6 Rashtriya Rifles and police at Budh Shungani village in Handwara after security forces received information about the presence of 3-4 militants in the area.
The Army said one militant has been killed so far in the operation while massive search operations of the forest area has been launched to track rest of the militants of the group. One AK rifle and ammunition was recovered from the dead militant, said the officer. However, the dead militant is believed to be a Pakistani like his colleagues who were killed in the first week of this month.
The operation in the Handwara forests was launched last month after security forces received inputs about the movement of a large group of newly infiltrated militants in Handwara forests near the LoC.
Three militants of the group were killed in an operation in Bangas valley of Handwara on July 5 while two more were killed in the operation in Bawan village on July 6 while 4 security force personnel were injured in the operation.
The security forces were now conducting operations to eliminate other 2-4 militants of the group, who are still hiding in the forests.
Army said they have foiled majority of the infiltration bids this year but didn’t rule out one odd successful attempt by the militants. They said over 500 militants are waiting on the launching pads across the Line of Control (LoC) to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir to fill the void created in the militant ranks due to successful operations across the State.
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