The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Tuesday, September 2, 2003, Chandigarh, India

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5 Pak intruders shot near LoC
Tribune News Service & Agencies

Indian soldiers listen to their commander after a gun battle near the Pakistan border in the Naugam sector of north Kashmir on Monday. — Reuters photo

Srinagar, September 1
The Army foiled a major infiltration bid when the troops killed five heavily armed men near the LoC in the Naugam sector of Kupwara district in north Kashmir yesterday.

A defence spokesman quoting Brigadier R. Roy said earlier there had been reports of increasing infiltration attempts along the LoC in the area. To thwart one such bid, the troops mounted pressure on the expected routes of the infiltrators and gunned five of them during the past three days at the Khappi post of the Pakistan army.

Till the last reports came in the operation was continuing, and there were reports of more infiltration attempts by armed militants in the area.

The identity of the slain militants and their group was being ascertained, the defence spokesman said. The recoveries include five AK assault rifles, 143 grenades, two radio sets and a bagful of cartridges and explosives.

Meanwhile, a policeman and three civilians were among nine persons killed in separate incidents in the Kashmir Valley since yesterday.

Suspected militants hurled a grenade in the Hari Singh High Street (HSHS) area here this afternoon, but it did not explode. The grenade was hurled at about 3.50 pm near Hanuman Mandir.

A policeman, Khursheed Ahmad of the Bomb Disposal Squad, was killed and two of his associates were seriously injured at Lower Munda between Qazigund and Jawahar Tunnel, about 100 km from here, on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway. The IED planted by suspected militants on the highway went off while it was being defused by the squad.

A security force jawan and a civilian were killed and three others injured in an exchange of fire between militants and security forces near Kreeri in the Pattan area of Baramula district today. A police spokesman said here that a security force jawan had been killed and another injured in the encounter with militants at Dardpora this morning. The civilian killed in the incident was Harpal Singh.

Five persons — a militant of Lashkar-e-Toiba, two civilians and two security personnel — were killed in an encounter at Kralgund, Handwara, in Kupwara district of north Kashmir yesterday. The militant was Abu Talwa, from whose possession one AK assault rifle, three magazines, 42 rounds and a wireless set were seized.

Militants shot three members of a family in Udhampur district of Jammu region last night. They barged into the house of Roshan Din and showered bullets at him and his two sons, Sher Mohammad and Nazir, killing all three on the spot.

Reports from Jammu say militants attacked a post in the Mandi area of Poonch district early today injuring a BSF jawan, Sukhbir Singh. The militants fled when the security personnel retaliated.

Militants also fired upon the Narkote post in the district last night. An army jawan was killed when his gun went off during an operation in the Sonagali area of Poonch district last night.

Amin Nag, a Hizb-ul-Mujahideen supporter, was shot by militants at Deval-Mahore village in Udhampur district last night.

A bullet-ridden body was recovered from the Thanda-Basholi area of Kathua district today.