The Indian Army has thwarted an attempt by Pakistan’s Border Action Team (BAT) to launch a strike along the Line of Control (LOC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Naugam sector on New Year’s Eve. As per reports, two Pakistani intruders were eliminated by the army.
“The alertness and resilience of the own troops, who engaged and neutralised the intruders, thus eliminated a likely treacherous attack on the army forward posts along the Line of Control on the eve of New Year,” a spokesperson for the Army said.
“Some intruders were also seen in BSF (Border Security Force) and old pattern IA dresses as part of a deception. They had intruded well equipped with IEDs, incendiary materials, explosives, and a plethora of arms and ammunition,” he said.
He added, “They were assisted by heavy covering fire of high calibre weapons such as mortars and rocket launchers from the Pakistani posts. The movement was nonetheless detected by the vigilant Indian Army troops deployed along the LoC.”
The spokesperson asserted that BAT intended to carry out a “gruesome attack”. He stated, “From the recovery, it was estimated that BAT team intended to carry out a gruesome attack on the Army forward post in Naugam sector. The alertness of troops foiled such an attempt.”
The spokesman further said that Pakistan will be requested to take the mortal remains of the dead as they were providing covering fire for them. “We will ask Pakistan to take back the mortal remains of deceased likely Pakistani soldiers since Pakistan did provide full covering fire support to these intruders,” he said.
2018 has witnessed the highest number of ceasefire violations by Pakistan, more than double the number in 2017. Pakistan forces have carried out over 1962 incidents of unprovoked ceasefire violations in which 50 Indians have lost their lives this year. The unprovoked firing is often carried out by Pakistani forces to aid and provide cover for armed infiltrators along the LoC.
The Indian Army, meanwhile, has neutralized over 220 terrorists this year. In October, the Army conducted retaliatory strikes Pakistan Army’s brigade headquarters in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.
