Spurt in infiltration attempts in Kashmir

Srinagar, Aug 7 (PTI) There has been a spurt in
infiltration attempts by militants into Kashmir ahead of the
onset of winter with army foiling nearly a dozen such bids at
the Line-of-Control (LoC) in less than a fortnight.
The increase in infiltration attempts comes in the
backdrop of the Kashmir Valley remaining relatively
peaceful this summer.
Militants have attempted to cross the LoC almost every
day
since July 27, when Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina
Rabbani Khar visited India for talks with her counterpart S M
Krishna.
In last 11 days, army has detected 10 attempts by
militants to cross over to this side of the LoC. Two of the
attempts were made last night in Machill sector of Kupwara.
"The attempts were foiled. There were no casualties,"
Srinagar-based Defence spokesman Lt Colonel J S Brar told PTI.
The army said that none of the attempts was successful
but
it lost five personnel including a Junior Commissioned Officer
while five militants were killed in the fierce gunbattles.
The infiltration attempts from across the Line of
Control started picking up soon after Lashkar-e-Toiba,
Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen suffered major setbacks
at the hands of security forces, losing some of their top
"commanders".
Four top-ranking Pakistani militants of Lashkar were
killed in a single operation in Lolab area of Kupwara district
on July 15. Earlier, a militant commander in south Kashmir
Shabir Ahmad alias 'Balle Balle' was eliminated in a gunbattle
by security forces.
The first major infiltration bid was in Hyhama area of
frontier Kupwara district on July 27 in which a Junior
Commissioned Officer of the army was killed while two other
jawans were injured. Army, however, said the attempt was
foiled.
"As per our input, there has been no successful
infiltration attempt so far," the defence spokesman said.
He said the surge in the infiltration attempts suggested
that militants were desperate to sneak into this side.
"The infiltration has picked up since July, until June
we had ensured there was no infiltration attempts and this has
led to desperation on their part. Now that the winter is
approaching they are making all the attempts to try to come
in," Brar said.
Militants usually attempt to infiltrate, or exfiltrate,
in
the summer months when HE snow melts over the mountains which
are used by the militants to cross over.
Most of the infiltration attempts this summer have
taken place in north Kashmir's Kupwara district.
Until June, the security agencies reported that there was
"zero infiltration" from across the LoC.
Army has maintained that militant camps were active
across the LoC and warned that nearly 700 heavily armed
militants were waiting to sneak in. PTI AZH
KAP