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The Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Tuesday denied reports that the Army carried out a surgical strike on Pakistan and said that the troops just foiled infiltration attempts by Pakistan on Line of Control (LoC) at the Balakot sector in Jammu and Kashmir.
The speculation began when a newspaper in a front page report claimed, citing unnamed sources, that Indian Army carried out another surgical strike in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) by entering 2.5 km beyond the LoC to destroy four launching pads of terrorists on Saturday night. The report was picked up by the social media of Pakistan, questioning their armed force’s failure to respond to India’s action which is seen as an attempt by the Rawalpindi-based military top brass to boost morale of their troops battered by recent domestic upheavel, say sources.
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Surveillance grid
“Intelligence inputs received from multiple intelligence agencies and Jammu and Kashmir Police revealed the presence of terrorists waiting to cross the LoC from opposite the Balakot sector. Based on these inputs, our surveillance grid was placed on heightened alert and multiple ambushes were sited at suitable location,” the MoD said in a rebuttal.
Spotting terrorists moving towards India’s side of LoC, the troops opened fire which forced them to flee from the ambush site under the garb of hostile weather and ground conditions, stated the Ministry.
“However effective fire resulted in one terrorist falling down on the ground near the LoC. Additional troops were then moved into the area and search operations commenced in the afternoon after improvement of weather conditions and visibility,” the MoD statement read.
Later, an AK 47 rifle with two magazines, 30 rounds, two grenades and Pakistan-origin medicines were recovered from the site. Also, troops discovered blood trails leading toward the LoC.
The Army deployment at the LoC have been alerted since sources suspect that the Pakistan army through their border action team may carry out some local operation to earn public praise.
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