Army foils Pak BAT attack bid

The Army on Tuesday said that it repulsed Pakistan Border Action Team (BAT’s) attack at one of its forward posts in Keran sector of the line of control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara sector.

“Our alert jawans in a swift action repulsed the attack and forced the heavily-armed BAT group to retreat and fled back to PoK even though it was provided firing cover from across the LoC. No casualties are reported,” said a defence spokesman here. He also said that however the exchange of fire between the two sides was under way when reports last came in.

In a separate incident, the Army troops shot dead a top Hizb-ul-Mujahedin commander, Abdul Qayoom Najar, in a fire-fight in the LoC’s Uri sector earlier during the day. The officials said that Najar, who figured in the list of “most wanted terrorists”, was killed as Army foiled an infiltration bid along the LoC in Uri sector of Baramulla district.

“An infiltration bid was foiled in general area of Zorawar (Uri). One terrorist was killed and one weapon was found on him,” the defence spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia said. The Army has killed five militants during a cordon-andsearch operation in Uri sector launched on Sunday.

The Army officials while giving the details of the Keran infiltration bid said that seven to eight armed men sneaked into the Indian side of the de facto border at around 1 pm and then targeted an Indian post with automatic weapons. “They were the members of Pakistan’s Border Action Team (BAT) but were forced to retreat,” they said.

The officials also said that the Pakistani troops fired at Indian posts in their attempt to facilitate the intrusion.