Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, May 24: Army today foiled a major infiltration bid in Keran sector of North Kashmir’s Kupwara district by pushing back a group of 15 heavily armed militants while Pakistani troops violated ceasefire in Uri sector of Baramulla district.
Army troops of 5-GR manning the fence along Line of Control (LoC) near Waziran Shallebhootu area challenged the movement of a group of around 15 heavily armed militants who were trying to sneak in the wee hours today.
Militants opened fire on the Army triggering an encounter which continued for several hours. However, the troops pushed back the biggest infiltrating militant group.
A massive search operation has been launched in the area to ensure that no militant managed to sneak in. They recovered 2 bags, two aluminum stairs and walking stick.
Army said that there are around 250 militants waiting on the LoC in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK)for infiltration. The troops have intensified vigil along the LoC and strengthened the counter-infiltration gird to foil the infiltration attempts and Border Action Team (BAT) strikes on the border posts.
Last year, as per the Multi Agency Centre (MAC) figures, a record numbers of militants, 120, infiltrated into Kashmir. And this year despite the tight vigil, at least 5-6 groups of militants have managed to infiltrate into the Valley.
Sources said that there are 28 active launch pads in PoK this year where militants to be infiltrated are taken. They said that this year JeM is more active than LeT and mostly the Jaish cardes are being infiltrated.
Last year, security forces achieved major successes and killed 208 militants including top commanders of JeM, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizbul Mujahideen in the ‘Operation All Out.’
This year security forces have killed 72 militants so far and 32 security forces personnel and equal number of civilians were also killed.
Army said that successful operation was launched last year and this year, the militants across are trying to infiltrate in large numbers to fill the depleting numbers.
And in the meantime, Pakistani troops violated ceasefire last night in Kamalkote area of Uri sector by targeting Indian posts.
At around 9.55 pm, Pakistani troops violated ceasefire by restoring to small arms fire and mortar shelling on several forward Army posts along the LoC in Kamalkote area of Uri sector.
The firing continued till mid, however, there were no casualty were reported due to the shelling. The firing caused panic in Kamalkote.
Meanwhile, militants this evening hurled a grenade towards a CRPF camp at Safakadal area of Srinagar.
The grenade was lobbed on 161 battalion of CRPF camp at Braripora, Safakdal. However, it missed the target and exploded outside the Sentry post on the roadside.
Four vehicles including two auto rickshaws, one Santro and a school bus suffered damage in the blast. There was no injury to any person in the incident.
Police have registered a case and initiated investigations.
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