SRINAGAR: An Army captain was among four defence personnel killed fighting at least half a dozen armed infiltrators, three of whom were gunned down, along the LoC in Machil sector of north Kashmir’s Kupwara District early Sunday.
Besides Capt Ashutosh Kumar of the Madras Regiment and two other soldiers whose names haven’t been released, constable Sundip Kumar from the BSF’s 169 battalion died in the gunfight that started a little after midnight on Saturday and raged for around four hours.
“Around 1am, a BSF patrol noticed suspicious movement near the anti-infiltration obstacle system, about 3.5km from the LoC. A firefight ensued, after which more troops were rushed to the area and terrorist movement was tracked with surveillance devices. A BSF constable was killed in action along with three of our troops,” defence spokesperson Colonel Rajesh Kalia said in a statement issued from Srinagar.Two more security personnel were wounded during a follow-up search operation for the remaining terrorists.
The infiltration bid was the second major attempt by suspected Pakistan-based terrorists to breach the LoC this year, coming just over seven months after five soldiers and as many armed infiltrators were killed in a skirmish in the Keran sector of Kupwara on March 31.
