Militants sent across LoC to strengthen depleting Lashkar cadres in Valley

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Apart from para commandos, troops from three battalions are taking part in the operation.

The place where encounter took place is close to the Line of Control. There is every possibility that these militants could have sneaked into the area either in the last few days with clear instructions to target any big security force installation that comes in their way.

The place where the operation is underway is close to Haihama forests where the army is engaged in an extensive search operation to track down the militants responsible for the killing of Commanding Officer, 41 RR, Col Santosh Mahadik and another soldier. In this operation, a Lt Colonel and three soldiers also sustained injuries.

The militants who are hiding in the forests had recently sneaked into the Valley after scaling the LoC fencing. They are in the dense foliage of the Manigah and Haihama areas. So far, the army has only been able to kill one militant of this group.

In the last three days, the army has killed four militants, including three locals from south Kashmir but they have been unable so far to track the militants belonging to the two larger outfits which had recently infiltrated into Valley from Kupwara and Gurez sectors of north Kashmir.

These militants, mostly foreigners, have been sent across the LoC to strengthen the depleting numbers of Lashkar cadres in the Valley. Of late, the Lashkar and Jaish-e-Mohammad militant groups have suffered major setbacks — top Lashkar commander, Qasim who was active in Kashmir and looking after operations was killed in an encounter with police in south Kashmir. Jaish was almost wiped out in south Kashmir with the killing of its three top commanders.

As the winter has already set in, the militants who have infiltrated will try to target army and security force installations to mark their presence and to keep militancy on the boil.