KC NEWS DESK
Baramulla: Three terrorists were killed and huge arms and ammunition were recovered from the encounter site even as the Army foiled a major infiltration attempt in the Uri area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Saturday.
Addressing a joint news conference here, Commander 161 Brigade, P M S Dhillion; CO 5 JAK Rifles Ankur Suhag; and DIG of J&K Police North Kashmir Range (NKR) Vivek Gupta said that the bodies of the two terrorists were recovered while the body of another terrorist who exfiltrated under the cover of fire from the Pakistani Army was spotted nearby a Pakistani post.
Commander Dhillion said that following intelligence inputs that some terrorist outfits with the help of the Pakistan Army wanted to infiltrate terrorists with an aim to disrupt the prevailing peaceful atmosphere across the J&K, especially in Uri and Baramulla, security forces and intelligence agencies tightened the security grid to foil any such attempt.
He said that at around 6:40 am on Saturday, the security forces on the Line of Control (LoC) in the Hathlanga area spotted three to four heavily-armed terrorists trying to infiltrate to this side.
“Soon after the contact was established, an encounter started which initially lasted for two hours. In the two-hour gunfight, one terrorist was killed,” Commander Dhillion said. “The security forces engaged in the gunfight found two terrorists who had been injured and had changed their movement. The injured terrorists were again engaged which resulted in the killing of one more terrorist.”
He said that during the encounter, the Pakistani Army resorted to firing and the injured terrorist under the Pakistani Army’s cover fire managed to ex-filtrate and his body was spotted near a Pakistani post in the vicinity.
Commander Dhillion said that the operation lasted eight hours and two bodies of terrorists were recovered from the encounter site while the body of another terrorist was spotted near a Pakistani post.
He said that the Pakistani Army in a bid to provide cover to the terrorists, resorted to firing.
Commander Dhillion said that the Pakistani Army even targeted a quadcopter used by the Indian Army.
“However, the Indian Army gave a befitting reply to the enemy forces,” he said. “The successful operation in the Hathlanga area of the Uri was a result of synergy between different intelligence agencies, J&K Police and other security forces.”
From the encounter site, the Army recovered an AK-47 rifle, an AK-74 rifle, a Chinese pistol, seven magazines, grenades and ammunition besides a 5-kg Improvised Explosive Device (IED).
“The recovery of 5-kg IED shows that the terrorists were planning to target the minority and the sensitive area in the region which has been foiled by the Indian Army,” Commander Dhillion said.
