J&K: Five Infiltrators Killed Along LoC in Kupwara's Keran Sector

Srinagar: Five infiltrators were killed in an encounter which broke out in the wee hours on Friday as joint forces of the Indian Army and the Jammu and Kashmir Police thwarted an infiltration bid along the Line of Control (LoC) in northern Kupwara, officials said.  

According to the police, the encounter started between the militants and the forces following a specific input from Kupwara Police in the border district’s Juma Gund area along the Line of Control’s (LoC) Keran Sector. 

The Additional Director General of Police (Kashmir), Vijay Kumar, was quoted by the official Twitter handle of the Kashmir Police Zone saying that the search operation continued after the five foreign militants were killed. 

The Chinar Corps of the Indian Army, which overlooks security in Kashmir valley and the LoC, said with the encounter, they successfully foiled an infiltration bid by the militants believed to be from Pakistan. The official spokesperson added they also recovered “war-like stores” from the slain militants while the operation continued to secure the area further.  

The infiltration attempt at Keran Sector is the second attempt by the suspected militants in the last 24 hours after the security forces could thwart a similar bid in the Poonch sector in the Pir Panjal Valley. 

“Some two to three militants laced with heavy weaponry tried to sneak into this side; however, upon receiving a strong response, all of them were forced to retract,” a defence spokesperson said. The forces were, however, able to recover arms and ammunition besides eatables, clothes and medicine from the site as the militants fled the vicinity. 

Friday’s incident is the second encounter in North Kashmir’s Kupwara. On June 13, police claimed to have killed two suspected militants in a joint operation by Army and Police in the Machil sector near LoC. 

The back-to-back infiltration attempts are being reported ahead of the upcoming Amarnath Yatra, which commences on July 1. The security forces are already on high alert, given the pilgrimage during which the region witnesses nearly half a million Hindu devotees. 

About a dozen militants have been killed in border areas of the 21 militants killed in Jammu and Kashmir since January this year. Last year, as many as 100 militants, including 71 local and 29 foreigners, were killed in less than six months, indicating a significant decline in encounters this year. 

The police have reported that the militant ranks have also condensed below 50 activities – which is believed to be the lowest in decades. Between April and May, however, 10 Indian army soldiers, including five elite commandos, were killed by militants in Pir Panjal Valley, which has been witnessing heightened violence since last year.  

The uptick in infiltration attempts also comes amidst a fragile ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan since February 2021. In December 2022, the Ministry of Defence said India had thwarted 12 infiltration bids by Pakistan along the LoC and killed 18 foreign militants.