Bodies of militants, weapons spotted
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Sept 9: Indian Army had foiled major terror plot hatched jointly by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militants and Pakistani troops by eliminating five members of the Border Action Team (BAT) on the Line of Control (LoC) in Keran sector of Kupwara district in Kashmir few days back.
Slain militants were equipped with large quantity of arms, ammunition and explosives and planned to target forward defence posts of the Army along the LoC.
Video footage of 1.51 minutes released by the Indian Army today showed bodies of five militants, who were killed by the troops while thwarting infiltration attempt by the Jaish-e-Mohammed militants, all of whom were members of the BAT and were trying to intrude into the Indian territory to target forward posts of the Army sometime back.
The troops deployed in forward areas of Keran had spotted movement of the militants, challenged them and opened firing, killing all five on spot during fierce gunbattle. There were, however, no casualties on the Indian side. Click here to watch video
The video footage showed dead bodies of all five militants lying on the LoC opposite Keran sector of Kupwara district at different places. It also showed two Pakistani flags in the area which the militants were carrying with them. Weapons and bags carrying explosives were also visible in the footage which were lying close to bodies of the militants.
It was a rare occasion when Army released video footage of all five militants killed on the LoC.
Describing killing of five BAT members, who happened to be hardcore militants of Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit, as major success, sources said Pakistan army and militants were getting desperate to carry out terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Pakistan was in complete frustration. It was resorting to ceasefire violations along the LoC in twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri with a view to facilitate infiltration attempts by the militants but alert troops on the Indian side have foiled their all nefarious designs.
There were reports that Pakistan Government has also secretly released Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar from the preventive custody and asked him to re-organize his cadre for carrying out the militant attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Apart from Keran, the militants of Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizbul Mujahideen have been attempting infiltration at various places on the LoC aided and abetted by the Pakistan army but alert Indian troops haven’t allowed even a single intrusion bid to succeed,” sources said.
National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval had recently stated that about 230 militants have been observed on Pakistan side and couple of them were arrested in the Valley. There were reports that launching pads on Pakistan side of the LoC were full with the militants and all of them were there at the pads with full coordination of the Pakistani troops.
Army was, however, well aware of Pakistan plans and had taken all steps accordingly to ensure that the infiltration attempts, which were aimed at causing terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, don’t succeed.
Pakistan army has been resorting to ceasefire violations quite often on the LoC in twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri since abrogation of special Constitutional provisions of the State in which four Army soldiers and a civilian have been martyred. In retaliatory firing by the Indian troops, at least 17 Pakistan army personnel have been killed while number of others were injured. Pakistani troops have also suffered heavy infrastructural damages in the Indian retaliation.
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