Handwara operation; militants give slip to troops, 4 militants - TopicsExpress

Handwara operation; militants give slip to troops, 4 militants Killed in Operation Srinagar, July 30:Army on Tuesday claimed to have killed four militants by foiling yet another major infiltration bid at Machil Sector in Kupwara district while as militants gave slip to troops after a brief exchange of fire at Hafrada forests in Handwara. Troops also launched a massive operation in most parts of North Kashmir forests. GOC of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps, Lt General Gurmit Singh while talking to a Srinagar based local news gathering agency GNS said that group of five to six militants were spotted by soldiers at Line of Control (LoC) in Machil sector of Kupwara during wee hours Tuesday. “Militants were asked to surrender, however they opened fire on the soldiers upon which the fire was retaliated triggering an encounter. In the ensuing gunfight four unidentified intruders were killed,” the official said, adding that a large quantity of arms and ammunition was recovered from the slain militant. He said the operation is still in progress as the weather there is bad. Responding to a question on the increased number of infiltration bids, the GOC said: “The militants may think it may be easy to infiltrate in these months (during summer) but our counter infiltration grid is alert for all the 12 months of the year and we are always ready for the challenge.” Lt General Gurmit Singh claimed the number of infiltration attempts is rising as compared to previous year. He said attempts were still being made to send more militants into this side. “Though the number of infiltration (attempts) has gone up this year but we have not lowered guard,” he said, adding the troops are still on high alert to foil any such attempt. He said besides intensifying night and foot patrolling, fencing and installing latest equipment has helped to curb the infiltration menace to quite an extent. “We have excellent intelligence network in place to take on challenges concerning us as there is excellent synergy between intelligence agencies and security forces and the present security situation in Valley is under control,” GoC said. “The security threat is there. There are training camps on the launching pads which are active and ready to infiltrate but the present security situation in Valley is under control. We have effective intelligence in place as we have grid support from the intelligence and security forces and they are doing good job,” Gurmit added. Responding to a question regarding the Hafrada forests operation, Singh said the operation is on in Hafruda forests in Handwara which was based on a specific intelligence. “It would be premature to give any details,” he said. Sources told GNS that two to three militants engaged with troops of 6 RR at Hafrada forests last evening about an hour, managed to give slip to the troops after taking advantage of darkness. Meanwhile, Army launched a massive search operation in most parts of forests in North Kashmir which include Badnamal, Vilgam, Keran and Uri forests.