*Huge haul of arms, explosives, eatables
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, May 10: Troops achieved a major success when they gunned down two dreaded Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) fidayeens and injured two others in a fierce gun battle that raged close to the Line of Control for more than three hours early today at forward village of Kalsan in Bigial Dara area of Poonch sector, about 10 kilometers from Poonch town.
An Army jawan was injured in the encounter while troops recovered a large quantity of arms, ammunition and explosives from the slain militants. Recoveries indicated that the Pakistani militants were plotting to carry out major terror strikes after their infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir.
Army lauded the extraordinary courage displayed by a young 23 years soldier of Gurkha Regiment, who fought hand-to-hand battle with one of the militants in Bigial Dara Nullah before eliminating the dreaded Pakistani terrorist.
General Officer Commanding (GOC) 16 Corps Lt Gen K H Singh and Poonch Brigade Commander Brigadier S K Acharya visited the site of encounter and lauded the courage displayed by the Army soldiers in eliminating two hardcore militants of the LeT outfit in pre-dawn gun battle on the LoC.
Official sources told the Excelsior that the troops observed movement of a group of four Pakistani militants trying to infiltrate into the Indian territory at forward village of Kalsan along the LoC in Bigial Dara area of Poonch sector at 2.30 am today. The militants were equipped with consignment of arms, ammunition and explosives.
As the militants reached close to the LoC, the troops challenged them and asked them to surrender. However, the militants opened firing on the Army personnel and made desperate attempt to sneak in. The Army jawans retaliated leading to heavy exchange of gun fighting that continued for about three hours.
In heavy retaliatory firing brought down by the troops, one of the militants was killed. Another militant continued to engage the troops.
Sources said one of the Army soldiers, Magar of Gurkha Regiment tracked the militant through Night Vision Device and had hand-to-hand fight with them in extreme darkness and thick fog in the area in wee hours of the morning.
As the militants were in Army fatigue, Magar initially mistook the infiltrator as his own Army colleague and was just hand shaking distance from him when he realized that the person opposite him was a militant. In the darkness, the Army jawan had also lost his weapon. The brave 23 years old Army soldier would have been shot down by the militant but for his extraordinary skills, in which he grabbed AK-47 rifles of the militant with which he was spewing hail of fire.
“The two grappled and rolled down the hillside, finally disengaging with a fall in another Nallah. The militant, now clearly unnerved by the boldness of the brave heart soldier, tried to escape. However, Magar though bereft of his personal weapon, whipped out a hand grenade and hurled it at the fleeing terrorist killing him instantaneously, thus bringing to conclusion another heroic chapter that epitomizes the character and ethos of the Indian Army and its unmatched soldiers,” sources said.
They added with the onset of dawn, Army had succeeded in killing two militants and injuring two others. In the process, an Army soldier Rifleman Prem Bahadur Roka also sustained minor injuries. The injured jawan was evacuated from the site of encounter and shifted to hospital, where his condition was stated to be stable.
Troops recovered bodies of both the slain militants from the site of encounter this morning and shifted them to Poonch. Both of them were Pakistani terrorists, most likely the part of suicide squad (fidayeens) of LeT outfit. Their identity couldn’t be established as they were not carrying any identity cards with them, a strategy used by the militants to hide their Pakistani identity.
The AK-47 rifles of one of the slain militants carried Sign Code of `LeT IITT’.
Army spokesman Col Manish Mehta said recoveries made from the possession of slain militants included two AK-47 rifles, 240 rounds of AK, eight magazines, one Under Barrel Grenade Launcher (UBGL), two UBGL grenades, three hand grenades, one claymore mine, two detonators, one timer device, one packet of explosives, three rucksacks and one handy cam.
Sources said some fresh eatable items and fruits packed in two pithoo bags were also found in possession of the slain militants, which indicated that they had been launched from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) only last night. The recovery of a large quantity of arms, ammunition and explosives in the possession of slain militants indicated that they were infiltrating inside the Indian territory with a plot to carry out major terror attacks.
In the morning, Army conducted massive search operations along the LoC in Bigial Dara area for two remaining militants. Blood trails were seen leading toward the LoC on PoK side, which indicated that both the militants had been injured in the gun fight but managed to retreat to PoK taking cover of darkness and dense fog.
Meanwhile, GOC 16 Corps Lt Gen K H Singh and Poonch Brigade Commander Brig S K Acharya reached Bigial Dara this morning and lauded extraordinary courage displayed by the troops in eliminating two dreaded Lashkar terrorists and injuring two others and thwarting nefarious designs of the militants to carry out terror strikes on this side.
A senior Army officer said they had reports that the militants were desperate to infiltrate into this side after sitting on Pakistan side of the LoC. However, he said, the Army troops were very alert and determined to thwart any intrusion bud.
“Whosoever tries to infiltrate will meet the fate like the two militants met today,” he added.
He said the militants, who tried to infiltrate today were four in numbers-two of whom were killed while two others injured and forced to flee back to PoK.
During past fortnight, half a dozen infiltration attempts have been made by the militants along the LoC in twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri. Almost similar number of ceasefire violations were committed by the Pakistan Army.
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