LoC infiltration bids foiled, 13 killed
Anti-infiltration ops launched after intel inputs, BSF DG reviews security at border
The Army on Monday claimed it foiled a series of major infiltration bids from across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch by killing thirteen militants over past four days.
The search operations were underway in both Naushera sector of Rajouri and Mendhar sector of Poonch as reports last came in, the Army officials in winter capital Jammu said. They added that the anti-infiltration operations were launched on May 28 following intelligence inputs that heavy armed group of militants are readying to sneak into J&K to carry out “terrorist and subversive activities” in the Union Territory.
They said that three infiltrators were killed in Noushera sector on Monday whereas ten others were gunned down in Mendhar earlier. “Search operations in several areas including some villages falling close to the LoC in these sectors are going on as we want to ensure no terrorists have managed to move into these populated area after escaping the offensive on the LoC,” said an official.
He added, “Our alert jawans have, so far, killed thirteen terrorists in these operations. The searches are underway in both
these sectors”. Meanwhile, the Border Security Force (BSF) Director General S. S. Deswal has during a visit of the Jammu frontier reviewed the security situation along the International Border (IB) with Pakistan.
The BSF is tasked to guard the 198-km stretch of the India-Pakistan border in Jammu region. The BSF and their counterparts in Pakistan Rangers routinely clash along the stretch of the border like the facing armies do in parts of the 767-km LoC frequently despite the ceasefire understanding reached between the two sides in November 2003.
In Jammu region, the 198-km stretch of the 2,912 km India-Pakistan border from Gujarat to J&K starts at Paharpur in Kathua district and ends at Chicken’s Neck corridor in Akhnoor sector where the LoC begins. The LoC ends at NJ9842 (the northernmost demarcated point of the ceasefire line) down the Siachen Glacier over which both India and Pakistan claim sovereignty.
A BSF spokesman in Jammu said that D-G Deswal and other officers visited various forward areas along the International Border.