Infiltration bid foiled in Kashmir, four ultras, jawan killed

Srinagar, Oct 19 (UNI) Troops foiled yet another infiltration bid when they killed four militants near the Line of Control (LoC) in the Machil sector of north Kashmir's district of Kupwara yesterday, defence spokesman Lt Col A K Mathur said today.

The Army also lost one of its personnel in the gun-battle with the intruders, he added.

Elsewhere in the state during the past 24 hours, a boy was killed while militants chopped off ears of a person Col Mathur said alert troops noticed the movement of a group of heavily-armed militants near the LoC on the Indian side yesterday morning. The intruders had crossed the LoC from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and sneaked into the Indian side on the intervening night of October 17-18, he added.

As they reached a particular place in the Machil sector, Col Mathur said militants were confronted by troops.

On being asked to surrender, the spokesman said the infiltrators opened fire on them resulting in a fierce encounter.

During the gun-battle, which raged for several hours, four infiltrators were killed, he added.

Col Mathur said four AK rifles and some ammunition were also seized from the encounter site. The identification of the slain militants was being ascertained, he added.

A police spokesman said Mohammad Arif was killed while fiddling with some explosive material at Lakhi Karee village in Rajouri district of the Jammu region last evening.

In a gruesome act, suspected militants chopped off the right ear of a person at Sopore in north Kashmir's Baramulla district last evening, the spokesman said.

He said militants abducted Abdul Majid Bhat, a resident of Taki Lolab in the frontier district of Kupwara, from the apple town of Sopore, last evening.

He said militants believed that Bhat was an informer of the security forces. However, the ultras later released him after chopping off his ear, he added.

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