Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Nov 10: Army today foiled an infiltration bid by militants in Rampur sector of Uri in North Kashmir district of Baramulla along the Line of Control (LoC), killing three militants while a senior Army officer was injured in the gun battle.
Sources said that army averted Uri-type Fidayeen attack as the militants were highly armed and were carrying incendiary ammunition used to cause major fire like in Uri Brigade headquarter attack where 20 Army personnel were killed with majority of them due to burns.
Sources said that 21 Sikh Regiment of army today noticed the movement of 5-6 militants infiltrating into Kashmir at Torna in Rampur sector of Uri. The alert troops challenged the infiltrating militants leading to a fierce gun battle.
Three militants were killed in the gun battle while Lt Col Arun Kumar who was leading the operation was injured. The Army officer was evacuated and airlifted to 92-Base Hospital at Badami Bagh Cantonment in Srinagar for treatment. His condition is said to be stable.
Sources further said that rest of the members of the group are believed to have fled back to Pakistan. However, Army has continued search operation in the area.
They said that Army have recovered body of one militant, one AK-47 rifle and huge quantity of ammunition during the searches of the area. However, they have seen two more bodies lying in the nallah and are trying to recover them.
The recoveries include one AK-47 rifle, three magazines, 62 rounds of ammunition, 7 UBGL grenades, one hand grenade, two I-Com radio sets, 3 antenna, one sophisticated communication equipment, 3 GPS devices, one binocular, two trip flares, six rucksacks, one pouch, 4 small bags, Rs 10, 000 cash, six jackets, six woollen caps, six shawls, 15 pairs of gloves, 13 pair of socks, three big lighters, six bottles 750 ml white liquid, nine small bottle of brown colour liquid, 2 T-shirts, 5 thermocot uppers, two under wear and two hand warmers, 22 packets of ration, 5 packets of tissue paper, 24 packets of dry fruit, 7 packets of dry roti, 12 rechargeable cells, one charger, two kitchen knife kits, one folding knife, one tourniquet, medicine, four walking sticks, two wire cutters, five boxes of fuel tablets, three face creams, one USB cable and two diaries.
By the recovery of incendiary ammunition from the dead militants, Army believed that these militants were tasked to carry out Uri type attack in which they set ablaze the Army barracks. Sources said that this is a big success by Army to prevent major strike by these militants.
A defence spokesman said here today that Army foiled an infiltration bid along the LoC and killed one militant. The spokesman said that the operation is in progress.
The area is one kilometre away from where last month Army foiled Border Action Team (BAT) strike of Pakistani army and highly trained militants during the night intervening October 6 and 7.
Army was already on high alert in the area as they had noticed unusual militant and Pakistani troop movements for last two months. They are trying to revive this route for infiltration but their plans have been foiled so far.
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