Srinagar: Army on Thursday said that three heavily armed militants were killed in Uri today even as concerted efforts were being made from across the LoC to push more militants to this side before snowfall closes the passes.
“A movement was observed in Hathlanga forest early this (Thursday) morning. The attempt was foiled with elimination of three terrorists,” Lieutenant General DP Pandey, General Officer Commanding of Srinagar’s 15 Corps told newsmen here. “Large quantity of arms and ammunition has been recovered from them,” he said.
The corps commander said that the army foiled a similar infiltration attempt on September 18. “We pushed them back and operation has been ceased after thorough combing,” he said, adding that today the army seized five AK-47 rifles, eight pistols and 70 hand grenades from the killed militants.
“There has been an increased activity at the launch pads on the other side of the LoC recently,” he said, adding that there are concentrated efforts to push more militants to this side from across the LoC before passes close by the snowfall.
“While there was no infiltration since the beginning of the year, there has been activity at the launch pads which cannot happen without the knowledge of Pakistan army commanders,” he said.
Army had launched a massive search operation in Uri earlier this week after it detected suspicious movement along the Line of Control on the intervening night of September 18 and 19. During the search operation earlier, mobile voice calls and internet services were suspended in the area.
Lt Gen Pandey said this was evident from the infiltration bid that was foiled on Thursday as well as the one in the Uri sector on September 18-19.
About the identification of group and militants, the army commander said that documents recovered from one killed militant indicate he is “Pakistani”.
Briefing the media via video link, Commanding Officer of Unit who was involved in operation said; “On September 23, in the early hours of around 6:00, our troops deployed across the Line of Control, spotted three individuals trying to cross the LoC, followed by 2 individuals who were slightly behind.
“On being challenged, there was a firefight in which three terrorists have been neutralized and the recovery from them are as follows-Five AK series rifles, seven pistols, 1 revolver, 24 UDK grenades, 38 Chinese grenades, 7 Pakistani hand grenades,” the army said in the statement.
It added, “Rs 35,000 Indian currency and Rs10,300 Pakistani currency, along with some eatables was also recovered.”
Lt Gen Pandey said: “We all are well aware that this year army and police are on a mission to give a chance to militants to come back to mainstream and surrender. Due to this Pakistan got frustrated to see the development. Pakistan handlers of militant outfits are on fire. They have operated and adopted modus operandi to kill unarmed police and Civilian via Pistol. This is a new trend by Pakistan to use Pistol in Kashmir as it is easy to carry out strikes.”