Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Dec 13: The infiltration of militants into Jammu and Kashmir has gone up this year despite Army being on high alert along the Line of Control (LoC) and militants are making desperate attempts to sneak in as they suffered record number of casualties this year.
According to Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) figures, 116 militants, mostly belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), have infiltrated into Kashmir this year till November while last year the number was 35 for the whole year.
However, sources said that it is a conservative estimate and the figure could be more than the official one. Sources said that some of the recently infiltrated groups are yet to come under security forces radar and others are still in the forests along the LoC.
The infiltration attempts are still going as militant launch pads are active despite first snowfall along the LoC. Sources said militant training camps are active in PoK with 19 of them most active including those at Skardu, Kel, Karko, Dullu, Titwal, Chakoti, Kotli, Dehri, Barhal Mirpur and Chaprai. In these training camps, the militants are receiving rigorous training besides map reading, GPS use, weight, weapon and tactical training.
Sources said that as a record number of militants have been killed this year and militants are desperate to infiltrate in more numbers to fill the void. They said that over 200 militants are still waiting at launch pads for infiltration before the heavy snowfall closes the mountain passes.
According to official figures, 147 militants have been killed this year so far while last year the figure for the whole year was 97. The killed include 40 of this year’s infiltrated militants.
As per the official figure, this year 71 security force personnel were killed along the LoC, International Border and hinterland, in Pakistani troops firing and during gun battles with militants.
The figures suggested that 76 locals joined militancy this year and 16 of them were killed and surrendered leaving 60 still active. Majority of them joined after July 8 following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.
Army has intensified its vigil along the LoC and already two Brigades of Army have been sent to LoC in North Kashmir to take on the infiltrated militants and one more brigade of Army has been sent to South Kashmir after increased militancy in the area.
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