Kargil (PTI): In a bid to provide all-round protection to the troops in the Kargil-Drass sector, the Indian Army is building strong defences to protect them from being hit by enemy artillery shells and heavy weapon fire at the Line of Control (LoC).

"In order to strengthen our defences on ground and protecting our soldiers from enemy fire, we have built strong defences covered from all the sides, which can keep away enemy fire from our troops," a senior Army officer at one of the forward bases on the Line of Control told PTI here.

"The newly built defences are fully covered from both sides with two thick parallel-running stone walls, thick over-head protection which can bear any kind of fire from the enemy," he added.

The idea for building these new types of defences came up after the Army realised that the stone walls at posts facing the enemy directly and at close distances were not effective in providing shelter against the enemy shells fired in the 'air-burst' mode as the splinters were causing damage to the troops, he said.

"Now even artillery shells fired in the air burst mode would prove to be ineffective as our soldiers would be fully covered from all sides," the officer said.