With the advent of the winter season, the handlers of Pakistan-based terrorist outfits have started pushing small groups of heavily armed terrorists inside Indian territory along the Line of Control (LoC) in the North Kashmir district of Kupwara.
In the wee hours of Saturday, alert troops of the Indian Army foiled an infiltration bid in the Keran sector of Kupwara while they were attempting to sneak inside Indian territory. This is the second infiltration bid the security forces have successfully foiled in recent weeks. On October 12, four suspected Pakistani terrorists, trying to infiltrate into the Indian side, were killed in the Krishna Ghati sector of Poonch.
According to ground reports, a brief encounter was reported in the Keran sector in the wee hours of Saturday after troops intercepted and challenged a group of armed infiltrators. The exchange of gunfire, which took place at around 3.40 am, was followed by a thorough combing operation. Till late evening, no official statement was issued by the Indian Army. Meanwhile, the army launched combing operations in the forward area, rushing additional troops to verify whether any infiltrator had breached the LoC or the entire group had retreated to the Pakistan side of the LoC.
In the coming weeks, the Indian Army is also anticipating a spike in infiltration bids by heavily armed terrorists ahead of the closure of mountain passes in the higher reaches of North Kashmir owing to snowfall in the area.
Intelligence reports have also reported the presence of a large number of trained terrorists in the launching pads close to the line of control.