BAT strike foiled, two attackers killed: Army

Srinagar, Dec 31: Army on Monday claimed to have foiled a Border Action Team (BT) strike along the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district by killing the two attackers.

“Army foiled a major BAT (Border Action Team) attempt to strike a forward post along the Line of Control in Naugam in the early hours of December 30,” an army spokesman said on Monday.

He said the intruders attempted to move by exploiting the thick jungles close to LoC and 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 fire-fight initiated by Pakistan was given strong retaliation by Indian Army and the exchange of fire continued the whole night,” said the spokesman.

During prolonged searches in the thick jungles and difficult terrain, he said, two bodies of “likely Pakistani soldiers” were recovered along with a large cache of warlike stores.

“The search operations are still underway in the Sector to sanitise the area. It was also reported that a few other intruders managed to escape across the LoC, taking advantage of the Pakistani firing and adverse weather and visibility conditions,” said the spokesman.

He said the attackers were wearing combat dresses like Pakistani Regulars and were carrying stores with Pakistani markings.

“Some intruders were also seen in BSF and old pattern IA dresses as part of deception. They had intruded well equipped with IEDs, incendiary materials, explosives, and a plethora of arms and ammunition,” said the spokesman.

“From the recovery, it was estimated that they intended to carry out a gruesome attack on the Indian Army forward post in Naugam sector,” he said.

“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.”