Three infiltrators have been killed in an ongoing gun-battle in north Kashmir’s Tangdhar pocket of Kupwara district after Army tracked down a group of heavily armed militants who had recently crossed the line of Control (loC). The encounter had triggered around 4 am on Sunday when Army personnel encircled two residential houses at Bakhiyan village in Tangdhar pocket. The Army had specific information that a group of three to five infiltrators has sneaked in and moved a few furlongs ahead of the loC.
Around 14 civilian residents of the two houses were safely evacuated before the exchange of fire triggered off between holed up militants and the Army. A spokesman of the Srinagar based XV Corps confirmed late in the evening that three heavily armed militants holed up in one of the two residential houses have been killed. He said no civilian or other causalities are reported so far adding the operation to flush out more militants is continuing.
“In the ongoing operation three terrorists have been killed and three weapons recovered. The operation is still in progress”, the spokesman said in a brief statement. last week three soldiers and an unidentified militant were killed in a fierce gun-battle in the same area on May 25. The situation along the loC had remained by and large peaceful this year but the two infiltration attempts leading to death of three soldiers and four militants in a week’s time has brought the line of Control dividing two parts of Kashmir into focus again. The Army maintains that it is well-equipped to tackle the infiltration threat through alertness of soldiers and advanced technological and intelligence network.