Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Sept 27: Army is yet to recover the bodies of 10-12 militants who were killed three days ago in Keran sector near the Line of Control (LoC) as militants are continuously firing on the search parties of the troops who try to retrieve the bodies.
Sources said that Army today tried to enter the area for searching for bodies and arms and ammunition but were fired upon by the militants who are believed to be hiding in the area where boulders, dense bushes of village Shalaboto provide natural cover to the militants.
The Shalaboto village is across the fence and entire population had fled to Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) in early 1990s. The militants had made infiltration attempt through this abandoned village.
Army said that they launched an operation on September 24 against a group of 30 heavily armed militants who were trying to cross over to India from Pakistan and challenged them leading to a fierce gun battle.
The General Officer Commanding (GOC) 15 Corps, Lieutenant General Gurmeet Singh said here yesterday that troops have seen 10-12 bodies lying near the LoC but have not recovered them yet. The troops took pictures of the bodies by using UAVs. He said that these bodies are lying some 200-300 metres from the LoC on the Indian side.
The group was believed to be comprising militants of Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Toiba, AL Badr and Hizb-ul-Mujahiddeen.
The operation was launched against them based on credible and specific intelligence inputs about likely infiltration attempts by militants who were on launch pads.
In order to ensure that no militants have managed to flee from the cordoned off area towards Indian side, a massive search operation is going on. But so far there is no evidence of the militants having managed to flee from the cordoned area towards Indian side.
The group was part of a major infiltration attempt by militants in recent years. Normally militants had changed their strategy and were coming in small numbers of around 5 members in a group.
Sources said that after failing to infiltrate due to heightened vigil along the LoC, the militants had tried to come in a bigger group to force their entry into Kashmir.
Army has been maintaining that around 250-300 militants are waiting across the LoC on launch pads in PoK in the areas on the other side of Tanghar, Keran, Macchil and Gurez.
Army apprehends more infiltration attempts by militants ahead of winter when the mountain passes get closed due to snow and infiltration becomes difficult.
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