Srinagar, 23-Sep:The Army on Thursday foiled an infiltration bid near the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district, killing three militants and recovering a cache of arms and ammunition, officials said.“We noticed some suspicious movement in the Hathlanga area near the LoC. The infiltrators were challenged and three of them were killed,” an Army officer said.He said a large cache of arms and ammunition, including five assault rifles, seven pistols and grenades, were recovered.Briefing the media at the Army’s Chinar Corps headquarters here, General Officer Commanding Lt General D P Pandey along with Inspector General of Police Kashmir Vijay Kumar said there has been increased activity at the launch pads on the other side of the LoC recently.“While there was no infiltration since the beginning of the year, there has been a little activity at the launch pads which cannot happen without the knowledge of Pakistan army commanders, he said.Speaking on the occasion, IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar said that feeling frustrated by the prevailing peaceful atmosphere, rising number of tourist arrivals, union ministers, and the peaceful situation post death of Syed Ali Geelani, there is a change in strategy from across the LoC. “Now, there is a new trend of Hybrid and part time militants, who are being given pistols to carry out target killings during evening hours and then they resume normal activities after a day,” the IGP said.He said this year so far 97 pistols have been recovered from militants, which signifies “hybrid militants are being promoted” to target unarmed policemen, civilians and political leaders.He further added that the Militant alias Lambu bhai who was supposed to be killed in encounter earlier this year has now been identified as local militant from Pakistan after conducting DNALt Gen Pandey said this was evident from the infiltration bid that was foiled on Thursday as well as the one in the Uri sector on September 18-19.(CNS)
