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Gaurav C Sawant
DRASS, JULY 4: It took 13 hours of fierce fighting, constant shelling and pounding by Bofors guns through the night before the Indian forces jubilantly dug in the tricolour atop the Tiger Hill, at a height of 16500 feet.
They had reached the top, battling each inch of their way up. It was not an easy task with Pakistani counter-bombardment and firing by the infiltrators. But Indian artillery provided effective support, constantly pounding enemy positions from all sides. The night sky over the steep mountains remained an awesome orange throughout and the pungent smell of gunpowder filled the air. Seven bodies of Pakistani intruders, including Pak army regulars, were found at the top.
Four Indian soldiers were reportedly killed and 11 injured in the shelling around the Drass Brigade Headquarters last night. However, the casualty figure in the actual operation is not yet known. The soldiers are yet to return; they are still dealing with a few pockets of enemy resistance at some minor peaks on the westernslopes. But, according to sources, India lost one soldier in the operation. ``There has been no contact as we are maintaining complete radio silence. We have got the peak and more forces are on their way as back-up and to consolidate the gains,'' an officer at the Drass Brigade Headquarters at the foot of Tiger Hill said. The fight for the western slopes was on till this evening. Though most of the infiltrators had been pushed towards the Line of Control (LoC), some Pakistan infantry soldiers were believed to be entrenched on the western slopes.
``But it is just a matter of a few hours before we recover the western slope too. A concerted effort is on right now to throw out the infiltrators from there too. We will do it by tonight,'' the officer said, confidently.
The gritty battle which won India the crucial heights was described as the fiercest and the most intense operation undertaken by the Army in this operation so far. After the recovery of Tololing Heights on June 13, Tiger Hill has been the secondmajor victory for the Indian forces.
The operation was launched around seven last evening. The attack from three sides took the Pakistani intruders completely by surprise. They had not expected any attack from the third flank, which is almost impossible to climb. But the Indian soldiers of the Grenadiers climbed from there using ropes. They were the first ones to reach the top.
While the soldiers of the Sikh regiment and the Nagas covered the flanks, those from the Grenadiers launched the final assault after midnight. Tiger Hill had been surrounded from three sides by the Indian forces after the recovery of Peaks 4700 and 5100. The troops had also seized all the ridges around it and cut off the supply line of the intruders to the peak.
As the infantry inched its way up to the peak, the artillery provided constant support, pounding the Tiger Hill directly. About eight enemy gun positions were reported to have been destroyed by Indian artillery. The infantry soldiers had light and medium machine-guns,multi-barrel rocket launchers (MBRLs) and bunker-buster Milan missiles to help them.
``What exactly happened there will be known only later but a stiff bunker-to-bunker battle was expected. The infiltrators were seen abandoning their positions and running towards Mushkoh Valley,'' said an officer.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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