The Hindu : National : Lashkar plan to strike at vital installations foiled

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Wednesday, Jul 07, 2004

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National

Lashkar plan to strike at vital installations foiled

By Our Staff Reporter

KAMALA (AKHNOOR), JULY 6. Army personnel have foiled a plan by the Lashkar-e Taiba (LeT) to blow up vital security installations in the border areas by gunning down four militants in an operation that lasted four days in a remote village along the Line of Control in Akhnoor sector of Jammu and Kashmir. A jawan was killed and three were injured in the encounter. A hunt was on for the other militants in the dense forests.

Acting on information provided by the State police about the presence of some militants in Kamala and Jhir Pail near Battal in the Akhnoor sector, army troops of the Akhnoor-based Infantry division laid a swift cordon around the area on July 2.

During the next 96 hours, the troops engaged them in a gun battle that ended with the gunning down of the four militants on Monday evening.

Sources said more than half a dozen militants were still hiding in the dense forest area. Documents and other materials recovered from the deceased militants showed that about a dozen militants had infiltrated into the country for the specific purpose of attacking the vital security installations in the border areas. The documents indicated that their likely design could have been to move in the north-south direction to cause disruption/damage to convoys and vehicles of security forces moving along the various roads leading to the hinterland and possibly carry our militant strikes in the interior areas.Army officers point out that the militants had intruded from the Somani launching pad in Kotli area of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) several weeks ago.

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