A 19-year-old Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist from Pakistan was captured by the army along the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri sector of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district while seven militants were killed in a nine-day operation in the same area.
The army said the infiltrators were planning a major strike and Ali Babar Patra, son of late Mohammad Lateef resident of Dipalpur district Okara of Punjab, Pakistan, had claimed that he had to “drop arms in Baramulla.”
Addressing a presser at Uri, General Officer Commanding (GoC) of 19 Division, Lt General Virendra Vats, said the operation started on September 18 when alert troops detected the infiltration movement following which an encounter broke out and more reinforcement was mobilised.
“The infiltrating group comprised of six terrorists and two of them managed to sneak into Indian side while four others went back, taking advantage of darkness. The duo was holed up in a nallah at Salamabad and the contact was established again on September 25 and one of them was killed next day, while another one (Ali Babar Patra) surrendered,” he said.
Patra, the GOC said, has admitted that he was a member of the LeT and he underwent a three-week course in 2019 at Khyber camp in Muzaffarabad. “Subsequently after training, he was sent home and thereafter he was recalled for some important task this year,” he said.
“The false and fake narratives of ‘Islam being in danger’ and perceived killing including the atrocities being committed against the Muslims in Kashmir was the main theme of indoctrination during the training. Possibly, the Pakistan national who surrendered was coerced and lured into joining the terrorists' ranks due to his poor financial condition,” Lt General Vats said.
The arrested terrorist has revealed to the army that he was supposed to drop weapons in Pattan area. “But when we saw the recoveries that were made, it is quite possible that these infiltrators had come here for some kind of strike, which went beyond the supply drop. This infiltration attempt was made in the area of Salamabad nallah, this is the same area through which we have had a history of infiltration in 2016 that is when a suicide attack on Uri Garrison took place,” Lt General Vats said.
The GOC added that in the last nine days seven militants have been neutralised and one has been apprehended and five of these neutralizations have taken place near the LoC. “The major recoveries that have taken place include seven AK rifles, nine pistols and revolvers and more than 80 different kinds of grenades and some Pakistani and Indian currency,” he added.
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