The operation to flush out militants backed by Pakistan Special Forces troops from Keran sector of Kashmir has entered the “terminal stage” and likely to end in the next two to three days.
The militants are trying to escape and return to their bases across the line of Control (loC), but the Army is making every attempt to “neutralise” them.
Intermittent firing between the Indian Army and the militants continued for the tenth day on Thursday. The firing started on the night of September 24 when a group of 30-40 militants were intercepted about 400 metres inside Indian territory.
Giving an update on the latest situation, officials said the operation was now in the “terminal” stage as the exchange of fire between the Army and the holed up militants was sporadic.
Based on radio intercepts between the militants and their handlers in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), sources said at least ten militants were killed in the first two days and the remaining ultras were making efforts to escape to PoK.
Officials said the militants were trapped in a thickly wooded crevasse in an area between the loC and the anti-infiltration fence and the Army cordon was now zeroing in on them to deny them any escape route.
They denied reports that the bodies of the terrorists were taken away by the militants as the Army was yet to recover weapons or bodies of the dead ultras.Officials said recovery will only be possible once the operation is over and the Army starts sanitising the area.
When asked how the surviving militants managed to sustain themselves for the last ten days in terms of ammunition and food, officials said that taking advantage of the ongoing encounter and the rugged terrain some more militants could have sneaked in carrying supplies for their aides.
Explaining the nature of the terrain, they said due to heavy foliage, visibility at most of the places in Keran sector was not more than 20 to 30 metres, making it difficult to locate the terrorists.
On the issue of the prolonged engagement, they said militants have to act urgently either to push forward or go back while the Army can afford to play the waiting game by tiring them out after sealing all possible escape routes.
Officials admitted that the ongoing encounter indicated that the militants were well-trained and disciplined as they were not firing at random and were conserving their ammunition.
Moreover, the manner in which such a large group tried to sneak in from at least five ingress routes in an arc of four to five kms showed that Pakistan Special Forces soldiers were also part of the group. It was evident from the fact that the surviving members were putting up a good fight with their AK 47s and light machine guns and managed to injure five Indian soldiers, officials said.
In fact, 15 Corps chief lieutenant-General Gurmeet Singh had said on Wednesday the analysis of this infiltration bid indicated the involvement of Border Action Team (BAT), a mixture of Pakistani regulars and militants. In Islamabad, a Pakistan military spokesperson on Thursday dismissed as “baseless” that its Army troops were involved in infiltration attempts.