M A I N   N E W S

5 holed-up militants killed?
S. P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

Jammu, September 6
Have five of the seven terrorists been killed in the encounter with the Army at Ghatti in Kathua district?

If one goes by the intercepts that the Army has with it, five of the seven ultras have been killed and one injured in the gunbattle which continued for four days. The guns fell silent on the fifth day today.

Meanwhile helicopters have been pressed into service. A chopper carried out three sorties yesterday to track down the holed-up militants.

Another wireless intercept indicated that four of the terrorists were killed and three injured. The terrorists flashed these messages to Pakistan.

This was confirmed by Lt Gen T.P.S. Brar, Commander of the 16th Corps, while talking to mediapersons at Ghatti where he flew this afternoon to personally see the operations.

General Brar said, however, nothing could be confirmed unless the bodies were traced or any such evidence was found by the troops which were combing the area where the terrain was very difficult and the foliage was hampering the work.

He said additional troops would be deployed here to scan every inch of the area to ascertain whether the bodies of the killed terrorists had been buried by their companions.

He said the area had been cordoned and the positive indications were that no ultra had managed to escape from there.

General Brar said the terrain was so difficult that it took 11 days to trace the bodies of two brothers which were dumped in the jungle last year.