Jammu: Indian Army busts militant hideout, seizes Russian carbine, other weapons

The Indian Army on Sunday smashed a militant hideout and seized a huge quantity of arms and ammunition including a Russian carbine rifle, 73 hand grenades and over 3,000 rounds of ammunition in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district.

Acting on a tip-off, a joint team of 8 Rashtriya Rifles and 9 sector of counter-insurgency force Delta launched a search operation in Darna belt in Kishtwar and unearthed a war-like store, a Defence spokesman said in Jammu.

He said a Russian AKS-74U rifle, 73 hand grenades and 3,254 rounds of ammunition were among a large quantity of arms and ammunition found in the store. Three revolvers and two pistols, six UBGL grenades, an AK 56 rifle, its eight magazines, a 9 mm carbine and its magazine and five radio were also seized, the spokesman said.

According to officials, this is perhaps for the first time that the AKS-74U rifle had been found in Jammu and Kashmir. It is a Russian carbine, a shortened version of AKS-74 rifle, officials said adding it is effective at medium range.