Troops resumes search operation in Gurez woods in north Kashmir

Srinagar: Troops resumed search operation on Wednesday morning in the dense woods near Line of Control (LoC) in Gurez sector of Bandipora district in north Kashmir, where four soldiers, including a Major, were killed and two militants were killed in an encounter yesterday.
Official sources said that with the first light this morning troops resumed search operation in the forest area near LoC, where a group of militants sneaked into this side from Pakistan administrated Kashmir (PaK) in the wee hours of Tuesday under the cover of darkness. However, so far no fresh contact was established with the militants, they said.
Two militants were killed and four soldiers laid down their lives in the encounter after troops challenged infiltrators, they said.
The operation was temporarily suspended last night due to darkness, they said adding but entire forest area remained under cordon to foil any attempt by militants to escape.
Though it was not immediately clear whether the remaining militants had escaped back to PaK, but more troops from other sides have also joined the operation in the woods.
The martyrs were identified as Major K Prakash Kumar Rane (SM) soldier Vikram Jeet Singh, Hameer Singh and Mandeep Singh of 36 Rashtriya Rifles (RR).
Troops guarding the LoC are already on high alert to foil any infiltration attempt from PaK, where a large number of trained militants are waiting in launch pads to sneak into this side before the higher reaches are closed due to snowfall.
According to official report 69 militants have infiltrated into Jammu and Kashmir from across the border till June this year.
It said there were 133 attempts of infiltration from PaK adding till June this year 14 militants were killed while 50 others were returned from the border.
However, the reprot said there were 406 infiltration attempts from across the border in 2017 during which 123 militants could enter this side.