The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Wednesday, August 21, 2002, Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

M A I N N E W S

Colonel killed in IED blast in J&K
9 infiltrators shot along LoC
Tribune News Service and Agencies

Police Personnel inspecting the spot of the Killing of a policeman on duty by militants in Lal chowk in Srinagar.

Relatives of a CRPF jawan killed in a firing incident watching as the body of the jawan was taken to the camp on Tuesday.
— photos Amin war

Srinagar, August 20
Five security personnel and four militants were killed in stepped-up violence in Jammu and Kashmir, a day ahead of the election notification for 16 of the 87 Assembly constituencies in the state.

Militants kidnapped three persons while as many ultras surrendered during the past 24 hours in the state.

Security jawan Rajinder Singh was killed when militants attacked a patrol party at Krankshivan Sopore in north Kashmir district of Baramula today.

Later, militants entered a house which was cordoned off by the security forces. An encounter was on when the reports last came in.

Militants shot dead constable Mohammad Yousuf of the Kothi Bagh police station near Lal Chowk, the nerve centre of the valley, in broad daylight this afternoon after a hand grenade they lobbed on a patrol party did not explode.

The police said militants shot at and wounded three CRPF personnel at the crowded Hari Singh High street. One of the jawans, Sher Singh, later died on way to hospital.

Official sources said according to initial reports received at Jammu ultras triggered an IED in a jungle area when an Army foot-patrol was on its way to Marmat. An officer of the rank of Colonel was killed on the spot and two jawans were seriously injured.

Troops guarding the northern sector gunned down nine more Pakistani infiltrators in Tangdhar and Machil sectors of Jammu and Kashmir today.

With these killings the number of infiltrators gunned down by security forces guarding northern sector during the past 72 hours has gone up to 26.

Official sources said security forces scuttled yet another major infiltration bid when they killed six more militants at Nowshera in Machil sector this afternoon.

A Defence Ministry spokesman said here that a group of militants who sneaked into this side from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) opened fire on troops when challenged in the general area Rati Gali near Tangdhar early this morning. He said troops immediately retaliated and killed all three infiltrators.

New infiltration route found
Girja Shankar Kaura
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 20
The Army yesterday foiled three infiltration bids in the Kupwara sector of Jammu and Kashmir which revealed a new route being used by the Pakistan-backed terrorists to make their way across the border.

The terrorists, most of whom were foreign mercenaries, were adopting the route along the Kishan-Ganga river to make their way into India. The river runs from Jammu and Kashmir into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) along the region which is not easy to patrol.

According to reports reaching here, the Army foiled three infiltration bids in the Kupwara sector last night, killing eight terrorists. A large quantity of arms and ammunition were also recovered from them.

While two of the infiltration bids were foiled in Machal, the third was foiled in Tangdhar.

A total of four attempts were made by the terrorists to infiltrate in the last one week. On August 17, the Army foiled another infiltration bid in the Kupwara sector, killing seven terrorists then.

Sources here said although the terrain being adopted by the terrorists along the Kishan-Ganga river was more difficult than in other parts of Jammu and Kashmir, but it gave them better cover than in other areas. The terrorists kept hiding in the rocky region before finally making their way into Jammu and Kashmir.

The river runs from the Kiran sector, about 30 km west of Kupwara, down to Tangdhar before turning its way into Muzaffarabad in PoK.

Sources said the four infiltration bids in the last one week clearly indicated the involvement of the Pakistani army as the region all along the route of the river in the PoK was under its control. Any movement along the river route could not be facilitated without the backing of the Pakistani army.

It also contradicted Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s claims that “infiltration by rogue elements was possible but there was no large-scale or government-sponsored infiltration”. It revealed an increase in infiltration.

The pattern also indicated that ISI-backed militant organisations in Pakistan were desperate to infiltrate a large number of terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir with a view to stepping up violence and disrupting the forthcoming elections in the state.