No militant killed in post-Uri encounter, clarifies Army HQ

JAMMU: The cat is out of the bag, officially. Post the Uri army base attack on September 18 that left 18 soldiers dead, almost every media house, electronic and print, led with the news of the killing of 10 terrorists in the sector on September 20. The army headquarters in Delhi told Hindustan Times that the so-called encounter was “a flight of imagination” by euphoric TV channels, which newspapers followed blindly.

Some “over-enthusiastic” members of the Fourth Estate even claimed that commandos of the army’s special forces avenged the Uri attack by carrying out a pre-dawn surgical strike on a terror camp on the other side of the Line of Control (LoC), killing 10 terrorists and injuring 200 on September 20. The Udhampurbased Northern Command, which is otherwise quick to break news of encounters in the restive state, was mum on the issue when HT approached it for confirmation. A Northern Command officer asked HT to mail queries via proper channel to defence spokespersons.

In a bid to get to the truth, HT asked where the bodies of the slain terrorists were and about the recoveries made.

The Northern Command is yet to get back on the queries but an officer, on condition of anonymity, said, “In the first place, we (the Northern Command) never said that 10 terrorists were killed. When we didn’t say so, why should we deny anything.”

A Delhi-based army headquarters source said, “At no point of time did the army say that 10 terrorists were killed. We simply said there was cross-border firing at two places on the LoC, including Uri.”

“We don’t know from where the media got these reports quoting unnamed intelligence officials. All TV channel reporters flashed the report of 10 militants having been killed. There was chaos. When we did nothing, how can we say anything,” the source said. “They (TV channels) ran fictional reports bereft of facts and the print media followed them,” he added.

At no point of time did the army say that 10 terrorists were killed. We simply said there was cross-border firing at two places on the LoC, including Uri. Army HQ source