Army commanders review operation against Keran intruders

The Indian Army's Northern Command chief Sunday visited the area along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district where troops have been carrying out an operation against a heavily-armed band of infiltrating guerrillas for the last 13 days.

Northern Command chief Lt.Gen. Sanjiv Chachra and Srinagar-based 15 Corps commander Lt.Gen. Gurmit Singh "have visited the area to review the situation on ground", a defence spokesman said here.

The two commanders appreciated the "high levels of professionalism and military acumen displayed by our troops in carrying out operations under extremely challenging weather and terrain conditions", he said.

Giving details of ongoing operation, the spokesman said there were "specific intelligence inputs of likely infiltration by terrorists in Keran sector of Kupwara".

"Since then, there have been four desperate attempts of infiltration in this sector which started on Sep 23 wherein one terrorist was killed in the area of Lashdat Nar and a huge quantity of arms, ammunition and war-like stores recovered."

"Subsequently, there was a massive infiltration attempt in the area of Shalabhato, in which 30-40 terrorists contacted the anti-infiltration fence near the LoC at multiple points, in order to get across."

"Heavy exchange of fire thereafter has taken place over several days. An effective cordon is in place, with complete control and domination in the area. Extensive searches to neutralize the terrorists are currently on. With additional inputs coming in, we are completely geared for all eventualities."

Noting that the area of operations was at high altitude, with heights ranging from 10,000-12,000 feet and "thickly forested steep slopes, deep ravines and crevasses", the spokesman said: "Operations conducted have hence been deliberate and controlled."

"There have been two other infiltration bids attempted thereafter in the same sector very recently in a span of 24 hours," the spokesman said.

"In the first attempt on Oct 4, three terrorists were killed in Gujjardur area while in the second attempt by terrorists to infiltrate in the area of Fateh Gali on Oct 5, four hardcore terrorists were killed," said the spokesman.

A large amount of arms, ammunition and war-like stores were recovered in both cases, he added.