Army launches major anti-infiltration operation in J&K, five troops injured

SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI: Indian troops were locked in a major gun battle with about 30-40 terrorists and suspected Pakistan Army Special Forces holed up in the Keran sector after a massive infiltration attempt from across the LoC into Jammu and Kashmir.

Five Army personnel were injured in the counter infiltration operations in the Keran sector that have been continuing for the last nine days after 30 to 40 terrorists had tried to infiltrate from multiple points on the Line of Control(LoC) on the night of September 24.

Although General Officer Commanding of the Army's 15 Corps Lt Gen Gurmit Singh maintained it will be premature to say whether the Pakistan Army was involved in infiltration of militants, he said there were definite indications that some special troops were part of it.

"From the operation that is going on till now and the strength (of infiltrators) and the multiple points they attempted (to infiltrate), give the indication that definitely there were some special troops. This is quite different from the trend we have seen in the earlier infiltration attempts," Gen Singh told reporters in Srinagar.

Five soldiers have been injured in the operation that entered the ninth day today. "All the injured soldiers have been hospitalised and are stable," Lt Gen Singh said.

He said the analysis of this infiltration bid indicated the involvement of Border Action Team (BAT), a mixture of Pakistani regulars and militants.

"I can only say, analysing the methodology of this infiltration, it was not a pure infiltration (attempt). It was a BAT-cum-infiltration (bid). The number of militants who attempted this infiltration was rather large. In fact, yesterday night 10 to 12 militants tried to sneak into the cordoned off area from across," he said.

"We are in total control of the operation which was launched on September 24. The reports of our posts being captured by the infiltrators are absurd," he added.

Army sources said the terrorists and suspected Pakistani Army special troops have carried out the attempt at the time when Army's 20 Kumaon battalion was being replaced by the 3/3 Gorkha Rifles unit in the Keran sector.

The infiltrating militants and their suspected Pakistan Army accomplices were holding on to their positions and are understood to have taken refuge in some abandoned old bunkers of the Army and are not showing signs of letting up.

In the last major action by Pakistan Army BAT, an Indian Army patrol was attacked in the Poonch sector coinciding with the change of guard.