"Alert troops noticed movement of heavily armed militants along the Line of Control in Keran sector of Kupwara at around 2.30 am. The militants were challenged, triggering off exchange of firing between the two sides," an army official said.
'We are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea'
Four suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba militants and two soldiers were on Sunday killed in two separate operations close to Line of Control in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir.
The army has killed five militants of Lashkar-e-Tayiba outfit in north Kashmir's forest area during the ongoing operations launched Monday last.
The army has gunned down two more intruding militants on the Line of Control in north Kashmir's Kupwara district.
The 15-day long Keran anti-infiltration operation has been called off, according to a top Indian Army officer.
At least 90 militants have entered into Jammu and Kashmir from across the border this year while a few dozens more are waiting for opportunities to cross over, a senior security official said on Thursday.
In a telephonic conversation, Lt Gen A K Bhatt, the director general of military operations, also told his Pakistani counterpart that the Indian Army was sincere about maintaining peace on the LoC.
A 67-year-old resident, Mangat Ram and a BSF jawan was injured in the firing.
This is the first time the government sources have confirmed that artillery fire was indeed used by the Army to launch a massive assault against Pakistan.
The army has launched a major anti-infiltration operation against militants and suspected Pakistan special troops holed up in an area in Keran sector along Line of Control in which five Indian soldiers have been injured.
'The Chinese thought India would back off. 'They did not expect such a firm Indian response to their expansionist manoeuvre.'
Around 200 heavily armed militants were waiting across the Line of Control to infiltrate into the Indian side even as the security forces foiled several attempts by the ultras to sneak into KashmirValley following the recent floods.
'Some people chose to describe it as the Pakistan army's permanent presence, as if it's another Kargil. The reports were highly exaggerated.' Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt, who is travelling with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on his two-nation trip to Brunei and Indonesia, reports.
The Indian Air Force is operating with "much less" aircraft than its authorised strength of 42 combat squadrons and in case of any further delay in the proposed 126 fighter jet deal, the force levels in the service will "go down rapidly", its chief NAK Browne said on Friday.
The Army on Monday said that the Lashkar-e-Islam group which was behind the attacks on mobile towers in the Valley appears to be a "fringe" element, adding that such threats were investigated seriously.
The repeated skirmishes saw over 4,000 villagers from near borders to government camps at safer places in the district.
Amid questions over what happened during the long intrusion by infiltrators from Pakistan in Keran sector, the Union government has refused to accept claims of Army, saying there was no evidence on ground to suggest any infiltration bid.
Sheela Bhatt, who is accompanying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his trips to Russia and China, speaks to a senior source in the government who says that New Delhi is keenly following the developments along the Line of Control.
"Since the Hyderpora attack of June 24, there have been a series of successful operations both on LoC and in the hinterland area. We have killed 28 terrorists in this period, out of which 18 were eliminated on the LoC and 10 in the hinterland," GOC of Srinagar-based 15 Corps Lt Gen Gurmeet Singh told reporters in Srinagar.
'By beheading an Indian soldier, the Pakistan army has demonstrated its proclivity for barbaric medievalism.' 'The strategies adopted and the punishment inflicted by India must be made progressively more stringent with every new act of terrorism till the cost becomes prohibitive for Pakistan,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
Does Pranab Mukherjee want to be 'PM' by office, not just by initials? The very prospect, with memories of the Narasimha Rao years scarred into their memories, scares the Nehru-Gandhis, says T V R Shenoy.
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