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Kashmir battles toll mounts to 12

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Srinagar, India, March 24, IRNA - A massive military offensive against Kashmiri militants fighting Indian rule has been underway in the forests of the frontier district of Kupwara for the fourth day Tuesday, with the toll mounting to twelve.

An army major, four other soldiers and seven militants have been killed so far in fierce fighting going on close to the Line of Control during which locals say that helicopter gunships have been in operation.

The Hafrada forests of Kupwara are suspected to harbour a large number of militants thought to have managed to sneak into the valley over the Line of Control recently.

Today’s casualty occurred as a militant fled the cover of the forests to take position in a residential house which was pulverized by shelling from the troops subsequently, reports said.

A large number of villagers has fled the inhabited areas skirting the forests in view of the heavy firepower brought into play by both the sides.

Firing and shelling was said to have intensified on Monday afternoon, aggravating the situation for the civilians still persisting in their native localities.

Helicopter gunships are reported to be flying constant low-level sorties over the battle zone to help ground troops to locate and engage militants and to evacuate army casualties.

The Hafrada forests had been sealed off last week for search operation following reports of substantial infiltration across the Line of Control.

The army also believes that militants who take the high ground in the mountains in the summer are ensconced in the forests waiting for the snows to melt and the weather to improve.

The Hafrada operation is a part of a two-pronged offensive launched simultaneously in north Kashmir and the Poonch mountains of the Jammu region to blunt the militant edge in the run-up to the parliamentary elections commencing from April 16.

In a change in tactics before the assembly elections of last year and following the mammoth public uprising during the shrine board agitation, the militant leadership had confined activities in uninhabited belts away from populated areas in a bid to aid the agitation.

This has led to a comparative lull in urban centers and inhabited rural areas, and most of the fighting since has taken place when the troops and the police go on the offensive in remote belts.