Four militants gunned down near LoC in Kashmir

Four heavily-armed militants were killed by security forces in Keran sector near the Line of Control in north Kashmir's Kupwara district. "In this operation which is on since Thursday night, four terrorists have been killed.

Eight AK-47 rifles have been recovered along with a number of rucksacks and a lot of other equipments for navigation purposes," General Officer Commanding of Srinagar-based 15 Corps Lt Gen Subrata Saha told mediapersons on Friday, 60 km from Srinagar.1

He said it was premature to say whether the slain militants were trying to infiltrate into the Valley from across the Line of Control or were exfiltrating. "Even as we speak, the operation is going on. The operation has to conclude first and we have to see the kind of recoveries and that will give us an indication whether it was an infiltration attempt or an exfiltration bid. It will be a little premature for me to make a comment on that," the army commander said.

Earlier, a defence spokesman said the operation was launched in Keran sector following a specific input about the movement of militants who were trying to exfiltrate from the Valley to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Saha said the army has put in place a robust counter-infiltration grid to check attempts of militants to sneak into the Valley. "We have a pretty robust counter-infiltration grid. There are troops who cover the obstacles by firing and there are surveillance devices to keep awatch round the clock.

"There are other innovative measures in place which we could not divulge due to operational secrecy," he said adding "do feel assured that it is a very robust counter-infiltration grid and that is the reason why a number of infiltration attempts have been foiled in the recent past."

In reply to a question about appearance of flags of Al Qaeda during protests in Srinagar, Lt Gen Saha said the issue is getting highest security concern and the "attention of all of us".