Army restricts access to villages near the Line of Control

URI: The Army has restricted access to several villages and grazing areas near the Line of Control following Sunday’s deadly militant attack here, even as an eerie calm prevailed in the main Uri town.

The Army has also intensified patrolling in the villages, while people have been asked to restrict their daily movement. The attack on the headquarters of 12th Brigade of Army in the Uri town, in which 18 troopers and four militants were killed, has triggered panic in the border town, which will be the first to bear the brunt of any ceasefire violation.

Sukhdara, a village on the hillock near the Army installation that was attacked, has been visited by Army and National Investigation Agency officials several times and the locals have been questioned. It is one of the nearest routes to cross LoC.

The road passing through the brigade headquarters, which also leads to several villages and the cross-LoC trade facilitation centre, is closed for movement for everyone except the residents. Media was not allowed to go to any village in the area. At Gingil, nearly 15 km from the town, the Army didn’t allow movement to villages in the Lachipora area, where firing incidents were reported. The sensitive villages of Hatlanga, Saura, Silikot, Thajal, Churanda, Ilam, Gore Tal and others have already been put on high alert. “There is no extraordinary situation in Uri. However, the Sunday incident has triggered panic,” a senior government official in Uri told ET.