Five infiltrators of banned Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) outfit were shot dead shortly after they crossed Jhelum river in a boat in Dulanja village along the line of Control (loC) in Uri sector of north Kashmir. A senior military official in the area described the operation as “one of the best on the Army Day”. Police said the slain militants were members of a fidayeen squad.
This is for the first time that infiltrators have used river base, with lowest water discharge, during winters to cross the loC in Uri sector. Such infiltrations have earlier been attempted in Gurez sector when militants used plastic boats to cross over the gushing Kishanganga rivulet.
The Jhelum river snakes into Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir through several villages of Uri in Baramulla district where it serves as a natural barrier between the armies of India and Pakistan, guarding the territories. Sources said, the infiltrators, donning army fatigues, were tracked down in Dulanja village.
This is the first major infiltration bid in 2018 which was successfully foiled by the Army. The Army said they were getting regular intelligence inputs on the fresh infiltration attempts.
Commander of Uri brigade, that oversees the sensitive frontier area, Brigadier Y S Ahlawat, told reporters that a major tragedy was averted on the Army day and in a run up to the Republic day.
“The infiltration bid by a fierce fidayeen group was made on 14-15 January night along the river Jhelum. Their movement was picked up by the alert troops. We tracked their movement as they were crossing the Jhelum in a boat towards own side. As the terrorist were moving along the banks of Jhelum they were challenged and in the ensuing firefight the Indian Army neutralised five terrorists,” Ahlawat said.
He said four bodies have been recovered while the fifth body was lying on the river bank close to the boat used by the infiltrators.
“We can’t recover the body of the fifth terrorist as it is lying on the banks near the boat which they had used to cross the river,” Brigadier Ahlawat said.
The militants have used a rope to cross over the river perpendicularly and the fifth militant is likely to have been holding the rope on the other side. However, he was also seen when the infiltrators were spotted and subsequently killed in a barrage of fire. One of the infiltrator’s body was perforated with bullets, sources said. Sources said the inflatable boat was used for the first time in Uri sector.
large cache of arms and ammunition was recovered from the slain militants. The recovery of arms has led the Army to believe that the militants were on getting into Kashmir Valley with an aim to launch fidayeen attacks.
The JeM outfit has off late upped the ante in Kashmir with fidayeen attacks and exploding Improvised Explosive Devices (IED).
Five CRPF personnel and three militants died in fidayeen attack at a training center in south Kashmir’s lethpora village on December 31, while 4 policemen were killed on January 6 in an IED blast in Sopore town of north Kashmir. Both attacks were carried out by JeM outfit.
“The recovery included four AK 47 rifles, three Under-Barrel Grenade launchers (UBGl), 38 UBGl grenades, 23 hand grenades, nine IEDs and many such war like items,” Brig Ahlawat said.
He said that they have been getting a “number of inputs about infiltration attempts”.
“Whenever there have been important dates like 26 (January 26), 15 (August 15) they make the attempt to disrupt the peaceful environment. So we were quite alert and we knew something like this is bound to happen and that is why the alert troops could pick up the movement of the terrorists. I think on Army day this is one of the best operation,” Brig Ahalawat said.
Police said that the infiltrators belonged to JeM outfit and had plans to carry out fidayeen attacks in Kashmir.
Meanwhile, the authorities postponed the weekly bus between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad hours after it began its journey from Srinagar. The bus service known as Karwan-e-aman was started between divided parts of Kashmir in 2004 but has often run in rough weather due to hostilities between India and Pakistan along the borders.