Infiltration bid foiled in Kashmir; soldier, guerrilla killed

Srinagar: An army soldier and a terrorist were killed in a gun battle in Kashmir`s Kupwara district when a group of armed guerrillas attempted to sneak into Indian territory late Tuesday, an army official here said. "A group of heavily armed terrorists was challenged by the army in the Tangdhar sector of the Line of Control (LOC) as they were trying to sneak into our side," Lieutenant Colonel J.S. Brar, spokesman of the army`s Srinagar-based 15 corps told IANS Wednesday. "The infiltrators opened indiscriminate gunfire at the troops from automatic weapons, triggering a gunfight in which one terrorist and a soldier were killed". "The bid was foiled as the rest of the intruders withdrew," he added.

Infiltration bids by separatist guerrillas increase during autumn in Jammu and Kashmir before mountain passes get closed owing to heavy snowfall in winter. The pattern has been observed since the outbreak of separatist violence in the state in the early 1990s. PTI