Army kills 12 intruders on LoC

A Defence spokesman, Lt Col J S Brar, said with the killing of 12 militants, a major infiltration bid from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) was foiled. “This is the biggest success so far this year,” he said.

Giving details of the incident, the spokesman said during the wee hours, troops on (LoC) near Bagtor village in Gurez intercepted a group of militants trying to infiltrate from PoK.
“The group was intercepted when they were trying to cross the Kishanganga river in a pneumatic boat. Kishanganga river at many places is the de facto LoC between the two sides,” Lt Col Brar said.

He added that this is certainly a new development. “The terrorists were also carrying an inflatable five-men dinghy. When contacted while crossing, a heavy exchange of gunfire ensued. While they tried to come ashore, six terrorists were killed and they fell into the river. Six more terrorists were killed near the shore in a fierce encounter,” the defence spokesman said.

According to him, five AK rifles, a pistol, two boats, 50 assorted grenades, two radio sets, two compasses and one global positioning system besides a large quantity of war-like stores were recovered.

“In this operation, we lost a gallant officer, Lieutenant Navdeep Singh, besides injury to two of our jawans. A lively 26-year-old officer, Navdeep was commissioned in March this year into the Army Ordnance Corps and was serving in 15th Battalion of the Maratha Light Infantry. The operation is still on to comb the neighbouring dense forests in the area”, Lt Col Brar said.

This is the eight infiltration attempt this month and the largest so far this year.