Army continues operation to flush out militants

The Army on Thursday continued its operation against a group of heavily armed militants believed to be recently infiltrated from the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) in North Kashmir’s frontier district of Kupwara.

Sources told Deccan Herald that the Army recovered four haversacks from the Budnal forests in Chowkibal sector of Kupwara, 120-km north of Srinagar, that contained dry fruits, roasted chicken, first aid and snow cutters. “From the recovered stuff it looks that the group has infiltrated from PoK recently by taking advantage of snow covered mountain passes,” they added.

The Army had launched the operation on Tuesday morning after the troops detected movement of a group of about 10 militants along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kachpatra area. The operation was launched by 68 Brigade of Army and it involved large number of troops from 6-Rashtriya Rifles (RR), 12-Garhwal, 16 Grenadiers and 6/11 Grenadiers of Army.

Army sources said that the group comprising around 8-10 heavily armed militants are hiding in the dense forests near the LoC. Army have pressed helicopters into service to track the movement of the militants. “The helicopters also dropped troops at various locations to plug all the escape routes in the cordoned area where the militants are believed to bet trapped,” source said.

They added that Army’s elite para-troopers have joined the operation against the infiltrated militants. Top Army commanders in Kashmir recently said that around 800 highly trained militants were waiting
to infiltrate.