Militant killed on LoC as army foils infiltration bid

The army foiled an infiltration attempt by militants to cross over from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) into the Uri sector of north Kashmir's Baramulla district on Tuesday, and an ultra was killed in the ensuing encounter.

Sources said troops guarding the Line of Control (LoC) in Lachipora in Boniyar sector noticed the movement of heavily armed militants, who were trying to infiltrate into Indian territory. "As the troops challenged the infiltrators, they opened fire and in the retaliatory action one unidentified militant was killed," they said.

Defence spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia confirmed that an infiltration bid was foiled in Uri sector in which one militant was killed. “During the search, one weapon was recovered from the possession of the slain militant," he said. The identity and the group affiliation of the slain militants were not immediately known.

The Army had on Monday recovered a body of one more militant at Kalgaie Uri near the Line of Control, taking the number of militants killed in the gunfight to four.

Deputy Commander of Kalapahar Brigade, Harpreet Singh, while addressing media at brigade ground Uri, said that slain militants were on a “suicide mission.”

“War-like stores recovered from them had a striking resemblance with the ammunition recovered from militants during a ‘fidayeen’ attack in Uri area last year. Militants were on a suicide mission and intending to carry out a major strike on an army camp situated at Kalgaie,” he claimed.

Kalgaie is just three kilometres from Uri brigade that witnessed a deadly strike by militants in September last year. At least 19 soldiers were killed in the attack.