SRINAGAR, India, 1 July 2006 — The Indian Army yesterday killed 10 militants trying to infiltrate from across neighboring Pakistan. A senior army officer and a civilian were also killed, the military said.
An army spokesman said a group of heavily armed intruders tried to sneak into India by crossing the cease-fire line in Keran sector, 140 km from here late on Thursday night.
Army spokesman Col. Hemant Juneja said the heavily armed group was sighted along the Line of Control through night vision goggles. “They were allowed to enter our territory and shortly after they were asked to surrender,” Juneja said, adding the rebels instead opened fire which was returned by the troops, sparking a battle that lasted several hours.
“Early morning searches in the area have so far led to the recovery of eight bodies of militants,” Juneja said. “This is one of the biggest infiltration attempts by militants this year which we have foiled,” he added.
In another encounter in north Kashmir’s Bandipore town, a lieutenant colonel of the Indian Army, one civilian and two militants were killed when security forces cordoned off a shopping complex in the town after a tip-off that militants were hiding there.
Police said that after troops surrounded the shopping complex, a fierce gunbattle began when the holed up militants opened fire. “Lt. Col. Chauhan, who led a posse of troops during the encounter, was killed in the heavy exchange of fire,” said a senior police officer. A part of the shopping complex was also gutted during the gunbattle. Ghulam Hassan, a fire department official, said the charred bodies of the officer and the militants were brought out of the burning house. Emergency workers rescued three more civilians, he said.
