‘Intruder killed in Poonch was part of Pakistan’s BAT’

JAMMU: The intruder killed by the Indian Army along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district late on Sunday was part of Pakistan’s Border Action Team (BAT), notorious for gruesome attacks across the de-facto border between India and Pakistan, intelligence sources said on Monday.

The body of the heavily armed intruder was recovered from Khari Karmara area in Poonch, defence spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Devender Anand said after the army foiled an attempt by a group of terrorists to intrude into India under “unprovoked and indiscriminate” firing by the Pakistan army on Sunday.

An intelligence official said Indian troops deployed at the border observed a suspicious movement at around 5.25pm on Sunday in the area.

“It was observed 100 metres inside the Indian territory near the post. The troops opened fire that was responded (by the infiltrators). An RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) was also fired towards the post by the terrorists,” the official said.

He also said three Indian Army soldiers sustained minor injuries in the exchange of fire.

“They were evacuated to 425 Field Hospital in Poonch. One of them has sustained head injury but all of them are stated to be stable,” he added.

Other terrorists fled back to Pakistan occupied Kashmir under a cover fire by the Pakistani army, he said.

BAT is allegedly made up of a mix of Pakistani army regulars and militants and the Pakistan army’s elite special services group forms its core. Its primary task is to dominate the LoC by carrying out disruptive actions in the form of surreptitious raids.

Twenty people have been killed and over 75 wounded in Pakistani shelling along the LoC and the International Border (IB) in Jammu division since the beginning of this year.