Troops foil infiltration bid, one jawan killed

JAMMU: An army jawan, identified as sepoy Amarjeet Singh of Sangrore district in Punjab, was killed as troops foiled yet another bid by militants to infiltrate under the cover of firing from the Pakistani side of the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district, a senior army official said here on Thursday. Singh belonged to 2 Sikh unit.

A group of unidentified militants entered the Indian territory under the cover of cross-border firing along the LoC in Keri sub-sector of Rajouri district on Wednesday night, he said.

There was firing on a patrolling party on the Indian side near Khalsa post in Keri belt along the LoC when troops detected some movement and challenged them.  The unidentified militants opened fired on the troops, who replied back resulting in a gunbattle, he said, adding that the militants later escaped to the Pakistani side after a brief firefight.

However in the gunbattle, one jawan was killed, he said, adding that there were no reports about the loss on the other side.

This is the fourth infiltration bid in the last 12 days and sixth in the last three weeks along the Indo-Pak border in J&K.

There is an increase in the number of infiltration attempts from across the border.
BSF troops on October 3 had foiled an infiltration bid under the cover of fire from the Pakistani side and killed an infiltrator along the Indo-Pak border in Jammu’s Kunara Tana Khurd area. Troops also foiled an infiltration bid on October 1 along International Border in Jammu’s Kanachak sub-sector as Pakistani rangers opened fire at Tent Post to push a group of militants into J&K.

Over 127 infiltration bids were reported in nine months from Pakistan, in which over 70 militants have been killed.