| 3 militants, 4 soldiers killed in Machil sector, operation under progress | | Second biggest infiltration bid foiled | |  S TAHIR-UL HAQ
Early Times Report
KUPWARA, Nov 8: The army today foiled a major infiltration bid, second biggest this year in which three soldiers, a BSF trooper and three heavily armed militants were killed which as the operation is on in Machil sector of north Kashmir on Sunday.
According to top security officials, today's infiltration bid is second biggest along the Line of Control (LoC) this year.
On March 31, this year, five heavily armed militants and an equal number of soldiers were killed in Keran sector of this north Kashmir district.
However the official said that the militants were heavily armed in two groups, either some militants are hiding or some may have gone back to the other side.
Defence sources said that the operation is on and so far three soldiers, a BSF trooper and three militants have been killed. "It was a big infiltration bid of this year in north Kashmir.
A BSF patrol noticed suspicious movement near the Anti Infiltration Obstacle System (AIOS) (LoC fence) about 3.5 kms far from the LoC, defence sources said.
A firefight ensued in which one infiltrator was killed, a BSF soldier was killed in action (KIA) firefight stopped at 4 am.
He said that more troops were rushed to the area and militant movement was attacked by surveillance devices.
Contact was re-established today morning when heavy fire was drawn by own search parties approximately 1.5 km from the LoC, Defence Spokesperson Col Rajesh Kalia said.
The official said, "in the ensuing firefight two more militants were killed. Three soliders were killed in action (KIA) and two others were injured. Injured soldiers have been evacuated to the army hospital, the operation is still under process.
On November 8, at about 0100 hours, an ambush cum patrol party of 169 Bn BSF observed movement of militants groups infiltrating through the Line of Control (LoC) in Machil Sector of Kupwara district, he said.
"After they were challenged, they opened fire which was fittingly retaliated by the BSF party. In the fierce exchange of fire, one militant was shot dead immediately and others managed to hide behind the cover of undulating terrain, at the same time Pak posts started ceasefire violations in support of infiltrating militants, said sources.
During the gunfight one BSF jawan, CT Sudip Kumar received bullets but with utter disregard to his personal safety, he kept on fighting till his last breath with exemplary courage and ultimately attained martyrdom.
He said that army reinforcement arrived from the flanking forward posts, a huge cache of arms and ammunition has been recovered and joint search and elimination operation was continued till the last reports came in. |
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