Army foils infiltration bid; kills 12 terrorists

Srinagar, Aug 20 (IBNS) The India Army on Saturday killed twelve terrorists, thereby foiling a major infiltration attempt in Gurez Sector of the frontier district of Bandipora in North Kashmir.

"Today morning, in the wee hours, at around 1 A.M., our alert troops deployed on the Line of Control near Bagtor village in Gurez Sector of Bandipora District in North Kashmir intercepted a group of terrorists trying to infiltrate from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir," said Srinagar based Defence Spokesman Lt Col JS Brar.

"The group was intercepted when they were trying to cross the Kishanganga River in a Pneumatic boat. Kishanganga River at many places is the de-facto Line of Control between the two sides," Brar said.

"This is certainly a new development. The terrorists were also carrying an inflatable five- man Dinghy. When contacted while crossing, a heavy exchange of gunfire ensued. While they tried to come ashore, six terrorists were killed and they fell into the river. Six more terrorists were killed near the shore in a fierce encounter.

"Five AK rifles, one Pistol, two boats, 50 assorted grenades, two radio sets, two compasses and one Global Positioning System besides a large quantity of war like stores were recovered till reports last came in," he said.

Brar said an army officer was killed in the operation.

"In this operation, we lost a gallant officer, Lieutenant Navdeep Singh, besides injury to two of our jawans. A lively 26 year old officer, Navdeep was commissioned in March this year into the Army Ordnance Corps and was serving in 15th Battalion of the Maratha Light Infantry," he said.

"The operation is still on to comb the neighbouring dense forests in the area," said Brar.

This is the eighth infiltration attempt this month and the largest so far this year.

(Reporting Neyaz Elahi/IBNS)