Infiltrator identified as Pak soldier, body returned

A militant was killed near the Line of Control (LoC) in the Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday while trying to infiltrate into India. He was identified as a Pakistani soldier, army officials said.

The body was returned to the Pakistan on Friday. According to army sources, the killed militant had been identified as Mohammad Ikhlaq, a soldier of Pakistan’s 60 Punjab regiment.

An army spokesman here said at around 3 pm on Thursday, Indian troops at Laam post, about 170 km north of Jammu, “observed suspicious movement along the Indian side of the LoC” and a patrol party challenged the infiltrator.  The infiltrator, however, “opened indiscriminate fire” injuring two soldiers. Fire was returned, killing the infiltrator. “One AK-56 rifle along with some other warlike stores was recovered. The body of the deceased was later handed over to the state police,” said the spokesman.

On Friday morning, Pakistan’s Director-General of Military Operations (DGMO) made an unscheduled call to his Indian counterpart requesting that the soldier’s body be returned. “Acceding to this request, the body was returned to Pakistan Army personnel in the same sector in the evening with military respects,” the spokesman said.

The spokesman had issued a statement that the Army had foiled an infiltration attempt and killed a militant in combat dress. An Indian soldier was also injured in the fire fight, he added.

On January 8, Pakistani soldiers had intruded into the Indian side in the Mendhar areas of Poonch district, killed two Indian soldiers and beheaded them. This resulted in escalation of tension between the two countries, but the situation eased after a flag meeting between the two sides January 14.