Army foils infiltration bid along LOC in J-K's Poonch

POONCH: The Army foiled an infiltration bid along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, defence officials said.

"During midnight (12/13 July) there was an infiltration attempt along LoC in the Poonch sector, which was suitably foiled by our alert troops," said Defence PRO, Jammu on Wednesday.

Further details are awaited.

Considering threat assessment, patrolling of Border Security Force (BSF) as well as Army has been more frequent along the LoC to foil any infiltration attempt, said the official, privy to the development.

The official said the terrorists are learnt to use "tunnel and riverine" areas to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir and they have affiliation with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM).

"As most of the routes adopted by the terrorists are exposed, they are planning to infiltrate through a tunnel and riverine areas," said the official.

Another official said the terrorists are now trying the Rajouri-Poonch routes, the areas of the south of Pir Panjal. "The focus of infiltration has largely now shifted to the south of Pir Panjal," the official said.

"The infiltration in Kashmir valley has reduced compared to other routes," the official added. Inputs regarding these launch pads across LoC are significant as the 43-day long Amarnath Yatra-- the annual pilgrimage of Hindus-- has started on June 30 after a gap of two years and lakhs of pilgrims are visiting the Union Territory.

The official said there has been a few instances of successful infiltration along the LoC in the valley so far this year as most of their attempts have been foiled and the terrorists were killed in multiple operations.

Indicating towards data, the official said 121 terrorists were killed till June 28 this year and the maximum number was of Over Ground Workers linked to LeT (68), JeM (29) and HM (16) while the number of foreign terrorists was almost nill.

Of the 121 terrorists, seven were unidentified and one belonged to Islamic State Jammu and Kashmir (ISJK), said the official citing the data. The overall situation along the LoC has been peaceful since the ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan in 2021.

The officer said the infiltration along the LoC shows a downward trend. From 130 infiltration bids in 2019, it came down to 36 bids in 2020 and 31 in 2021, said the official.