Three heavily-armed Pakistan-based militants tried to storm an Army camp at Langaet in Jammu and Kashmir’s border district of Kupwara in the early hours of Thursday, but failed and were gunned down by alert soldiers in a fierce encounter. The Army recovered a large quantity of arms, ammunition and other material like maps.
Three infiltration attempts across the Line of Control were also foiled by Army troops, leaving four other militants dead.
Army and police officials said the militants targeted the battalion headquarters of the counter-insurgency 30 Rashtriya Rifles at Langaet, 80 km northwest of Srinagar, with rifle fire and grenades at around 5 am. The troops quickly retaliated by opening fire, forcing the militants to flee. But they were soon encircled by Army and police reinforcements in a nearby apple orchard, and in the gunfight that followed all the three militants were killed, ending a 20-minute standoff.
Handwara superintendent of police Ghulam Jeelani confirmed the killing of three militants and said three AK rifles along with ammunition and other thingswere recovered. “The identity of the slain terrorists is being ascertained. Searches in the area are on,” he said.
The Army displayed the weapons and other “war-like stores” found on the slain militants before the media at the 30 RR camp, but refused to show their corpses. It also didn’t let reporters go to the encounter site, saying, “It is risky”.
Officials believe the militants’ group may have sneaked into J&K from across the Line of Control overnight. “This could be a fresh group of infiltrators but there is a possibility that they were already present in the area. We are trying to find out,” said a police officer who sought anonymity.
Defence spokesman Col. Rajesh Kalia said that apart from three AK assault rifles with ammunition, four radio sets, three Global Positioning System devices, medicines and food packets bearing Pakistani markings and other “war-like stores” were found on the slain militants. “It is almost certain all of them were Pakistani terrorists who may have sneaked into the area from across the LoC overnight,” he said.
Col. Rajiv Sharang, commanding officer of the RR unit, said the three militants were challenged by jawans at the battalion headquarters after they saw suspicious movement near its perimeter fencing. “Three terrorists were seen near the perimeter fencing of our camp. Our sentries challenged the terrorists, who fired heavily on our sentry posts. We also retaliated and then a quick reaction team was activated so that the terrorists did not flee the area where they were spotted,” he said. The Army used illumination rounds to light up the area and all three militants were killed in the encounter.
The Army official said the medicines found in the possession of the slain men had Pakistani markings, that made it clear that they were from Pakistan. The Army, he said, was analysing the maps and the matrix sheet that the militants were using.
The defence spokesman, Col. Kalia, said the Army had foiled three infiltration bids from across the LoC in Kupwara’s Nowgam and Uri’s Rampur sectors. “These attempts were made overnight but our alert jawans opened fire, forcing the terrorists to flee back to PoK,” he told this newspaper. Later, in a statement, the Army termed it a “major blow” to Pakistan-sponsored terror and said both it and the BSF, now on a very high state of vigil along the LoC, detected two infiltrating militants’ columns in Nowgam and another in Rampur early Thursday. “Even though under intense fire from Pakistani posts, evidently to facilitate the infiltration, the Army immediately intercepted the terrorists ahead of the LoC,” it said, adding that while giving a befitting reply to the Pakistan Army firing, the militants were engaged in a fierce gunfight and forced to flee back.
“The Army action has resulted into the elimination of four terrorists whose bodies have been recovered from Nowgam sector in search operations that continue even at the time of filing this report,” the statement said.
