Army Foils Attack By Pakistan's Border Action Team, Kills At Least Five Infiltrators

Army has foiled an attack by Pakistan's Border Action Team (BAT) on a forward post along the Line of Control (LoC) in Keran sector of Jammu and Kashmir, killing at least five to seven intruders, according to a defence spokesman

The BAT generally comprises special forces personnel of the Pakistani Army and terrorists. Photo: ANI

SRINAGAR: The Indian Army claimed on Saturday that it has foiled an attempt by Pakistan's Border Action Team (BAT) to carry out a strike in Keran sector on the Line of Control (LoC). Army sources said heavy casualties were inflicted on the BAT and assessed that five possible intruders were killed as the bodies were spotted close to the post on LoC where the action took place. The BAT generally comprises special forces personnel of the Pakistani Army and terrorists. "A BAT attempt was made on one of the forward posts in Keran sector (in Kupwara district) and foiled by alert troops resulting in neutralising of five to seven Pak regulars/terrorists," defence spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia said. He said Pakistan has made a number of attempts in the last 36 hours to disturb peace in the Valley and to target Amarnath Yatra.

Proof of #Pakistani BAT team members including SSG commandos being killed in Keran sectr on LoC#Kashmir pic.twitter.com/Y6JBPTfxfj

— Neeraj Rajput (@neeraj_rajput) August 3, 2019

The Army also claimed that in the last 36 hours, several attempts were made by Pakistan army to push terrorists of Jaish e Mohammad (JeM) and other organizations into J&K. Four terrorists have been killed in the hinterland in the last few days. The defence spokesperson said four hardcore Jaish-e-Mohammad militants were neutralised in two operations in which a cache of sniper rifle, IED and mine with Pakistan markings were recovered. "This clearly indicates complicity of Pakistan in terror activities. Security forces will continue to respond to all nefarious activities along the LoC and hinterland," he said. What is Pakistan's BAT (Border Action Team)

• The BAT comprises of highly trained special troops employed for Trans-Loc action of upto a depth of one to three kms.
• The core of BAT includes special commandos and trained terrorists. Its task is to carry out small scale disruptive actions.
• SSG commandos deployed on Pakistan side mainly form the core of its Border Action Team (BAT) and its deployed to carry out brutal military killing by long range snipers or an ambush.
• BAT actions also facilitate induction of terrorists to Jammu and Kashmir
• In 2016, Pakistan’s BAT commandos ambushed the Army’s counter infiltration patrol between the border fence and LoC.

Pak-based terrorists planning to target Amarnath Yatra Earlier on Friday, the Army said that Pakistan-based terrorists are planning to target the Amarnath Yatra in the Kashmir Valley. General Officer Commanding of Army's 15 Corps Lt General KJS Dhillon's statement came after searches in the past few days by security forces led to the recovery of a Pakistan-made mine and a huge cache of arms from along the Amarnath Yatra route. The Corps commander said Pakistan and its army were desperate to disrupt peace in Kashmir Valley. "Last three to four days, we were getting specific and confirmed intelligence inputs that terrorists led by Pakistan and Pakistan Army are trying to target the Shri Amarnathji yatra which is going on," Dhillon told a joint press conference with Jammu and Kashmir Police chief Dilbagh Singh said on Friday. Dhillon said joint teams of security forces launched searches along the twin routes of Baltal and Pahalgam leading to the holy cave shrine and recovered weapons, ammunition and explosives in the operations that have been going on for the past three days now. "We had some major successes during the searches. Some IEDs were recovered which have been neutralised. The searches have yielded an American M-24 (Sniper) rifle and an anti-personnel mine with Pakistan Ordnance factory markings on it, which clearly indicates that Pakistan is involved in terrorism in Kashmir," he said.