Infiltration bid foiled in J&K’s Rajouri, soldier injured

Alert troops of the army foiled an infiltration bid across the Line of Control (LoC) in J&K's Rajouri district on Saturday, while a soldier was injured in the incident. officials said.

"A soldier was injured in an encounter when terrorists attempted to infiltrate across the LoC in Rajouri district. The encounter occurred in the Kalal area of the Nowshera sector when soldiers guarding the LoC intercepted a group of terrorists while they were trying to infiltrate this side," an official said.

This was the second infiltration attempt by terrorists in the Nowshera sector in the past week, the official noted. On September 9, two heavily armed terrorists were killed near the LoC in the Laam area of the sector.

The hilly districts of Poonch, Rajouri, Doda, Kathua, Reasi, and Udhampur in the Jammu division have witnessed several terrorist ambush attacks against the army, security forces and civilians during the last two months.

After reports that a group of hardcore foreign terrorists, believed to be 40 to 50 in number, are responsible for these attacks, the army deployed over 4,000 trained soldiers drawn from the elite Para commandos and those trained in mountain warfare in the densely forested areas of those districts. Terrorists used the element of surprise to carry out ambush attacks and then disappear into the forests of these hilly areas.

The deployment of the army and the CRPF, together with the strengthening of the village defence committees (VDCs) managed by local residents, has deprived the terrorists of using the element of surprise to carry out such attacks.

After the security forces started aggressively going after the terrorists both in the Jammu division and the Kashmir Valley, the terrorists are now increasingly being engaged in exchange of firing with the security forces.

Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban, Reasi, Poonch, Udhampur, Kathua, Jammu and Samba districts of Jammu division are going to vote in the second and third phase of J&K polls on September 25 and October 1.