2 infiltration bids foiled in Kupwara, 3 militants killed

SRINAGAR, Aug 29: Security forces today foiled two infiltration bids along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara district, killing three infiltrating militants.

Army officer Brig H K Dhinkar while addressing media at Kupwara said that Army acted swiftly on the lead provided by the Jammu and Kashmir Police regarding infiltration and neutralised three militants while another was injured and fled back.

“We laid ambushes on all infiltration routes. We came to contact with terrorists in Machil first and during the operation, another contact was established at Tanghdar sector,” he said.

“Three terrorists were killed in twin operations while one terrorist is believed to have suffered injuries,” he said and congratulated the security forces including police and BSF for successful operations amid inclement weather.
The Army officer said searches were in progress at both locations.

In Machil, two AK series rifles, six AK magazines, 151 rounds of ammunition, one pistol, four grenades, two pouches, one fence cutter and two back packs were recovered from the encounter site.

A police official said the two operations were launched on August 28 based on specific inputs by Kupwara Police a day earlier.

He said police had been maintaining close vigil and developing on ground human intelligence regarding infiltration attempts from the LoC at Kupwara.

“In keeping with intelligence inputs, two specific inputs were developed on Tuesday about simultaneous infiltration attempts from Karnah sector and Kumkadi in Machil sector. Inputs were shared with concerned Army units and joint ambushes of JKP and Army were deployed,” the official added

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While at Kumkadi, suspicious movement was detected around 7:30 pm on Wednesday shortly after which firing commenced. The exchange of firing lasted till this morning.

In a similar operation, suspicious movement was detected in Karnah sector around 9 pm on Wednesday, prompting a challenge by security forces which led to exchange of firing through the night.

Upon search conducted in the morning at both locations – two bodies were seen at Kumkadi while one body was seen at Karnah,” the officials said.

This was the sixth operation based on inputs developed by police in Kupwara district this year which has resulted in killing of 10 foreign militants.