Jawan killed, another hurt as Army foils LoC infiltration

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, October 27

At a time when there is an escalation in cross-border shelling in the Jammu region, a soldier was killed and another injured as the Army foiled an infiltration attempt in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Thursday. 

The infiltration bid was foiled in Tangdhar sector, some 140 km from Srinagar, when the Army intercepted a group of heavily armed militants along the Line of Control.

“As the group was challenged, a gunfight erupted. In the ensuing gunfight, one soldier was martyred and another got injured and was evacuated,” an Army officer said. “The operation is continuing in the area.”

More soldiers have been deployed to comb the forest area in the sector. There is a possibility that militants might have returned to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. 

The identity of the slain soldier could not be established immediately. 

Defence sources said militants from across were making desperate attempts to sneak into the Valley as the snow would close the mountain passes along the LoC in the region for the next six months. Intelligence reports said over 300 militants were waiting at nearly two dozen launch pads in PoK to infiltrate into Kashmir.