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"The holed up militants, who have been exchanging fire with the security forces for the last one week, seem to be from JeM based on the intercepts that we have got," Brigadier General Staff Brig Gurdeep Singh told reporters in Mendhar.
Unlike operation 'Sarp Nash' in 2003 during which security forces had come across bunkers built by militants, Brig Singh said in the current operation, there were no such reports of bunkers being set up by the ultras in the forest area.
The militants were using natural caves with rocks around them as hideouts in the region, he said.
Replying to questions on the operation that began on January 1, he said, "it is not possible to specify as of now how long the operation will last."
The officer said the undulating forest terrain in the region and the weather were acting as major constraints for the army in flushing them out.
"We are carrying out a deliberate operation to wear out the terrorists and to ensure that the casualties among our own forces are avoided. That's why we are taking time to eliminate the terrorists holed up here," Singh added.
Strongly denying reports that there were 1,500 troops deployed in the operation, the Brigadier said that there were just about 350 men on the ground as of now battling the terrorists.
On whether more troops from specialised forces such as the National Security Guards would be joining the operation, Brig Singh said he had enough men to do the job and the troops were doing well.
Army also said it suspected militants to be still holed up in the forests as two small arm shots had been fired by the militants since this morning from different spots in the operational area.
"There are militants holed up there. We know it from the gun shots yesterday and today. It would not be right to guess their number at this point," he said.
Maintaining that the army had busted a couple of caves, where the militants were hiding during the operation, he said they had recovered some ammunition, rocket propelled grenades, some ration and a radio set from the busted hideouts.
"This is not the only operation in the area. We have witnessed several other operations too and the army has eliminated militants before also," he said.
Pointing out that militants have been very active in the this area, he said there were reports of some local support, but it could be due to duress. "The police have arrested a couple of over ground workers of the terror groups recently," he said.
On the recovery of GI sheets from the militants, Singh said these were used to cover the openings to the caves, where they were hiding, so as to protect them from the weather.
"There were no bunkers, but only caves in which a couple of GI sheets were used to cover the opening," he said.
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Im pained to state that our armed forces have outdated tactics.Use pilotless helicopter to pinpoint the target and use chemical weapon/napalm bomb to eliminate these people.Does army want to catch them alive. We do not need any more Kasabs.
If these terrorists are within Indian territory there should be no hitch to destroy these socalled caves and tunnels with the help of Indian Air-Force.The caves can be levelled by bombarding and bury the Bastards alive.If the area lies in Pak vicinity India should tell Pak to take action from their side failing which India will take action at its own.With that excuse India can carry out more such operations along the border and PoK.
It is time Indian army, ISRO and RAW start using modern technology for finding these tunnels dug across and underneath the LOC. I am sure ISRO with all the precision cameras can spot the moment of the terrorists, their activities and tunnnels.
The situation just gets bleak every day... If this was the area that was said to be clear during the elections which happened few days back.. wondering what was the intelligence doing and what was the type of patrolling which was done? A clear indications that the elections were not peaceful because of our effort but because the terrorists I believe were sleeping then..And I don;t understand this concept of being able to strike quickly across the border (when you say we will have surgical strikes).. but not able to do the same within your country.. I understand the terrain is difficult.. but this is how it is going to be and we will have to have strategies for that.. We can't create strategies for plain fields and execute them in the mountain jungles.. The terrorists plan for that.. Why doesn't our army do that? It just leaves a lot of frustration on how inefficient we have been in protecting our people and land..
This case was a god sent opportuinity to do dress rehearsel for surgical operation on the terrorist camps of POK. not only we have wasted it, but conclusively demonstratedthat we are not capable of handling it, within our soil, leave aside a foreign country.we need strong government and professional army.
Shut up! you are sitting in your cozy living room and showing bravado. Have you ever been to a forest in a hilly terrain? I can bet that you will make your pants wet just if left there alone, and die of seizure if you saw even a dog. These men are risking their own life for ungrateful people like you. If you can't show some gratitude, then least you can do is shut the fish up and watch some entertainment channel that suits you better.
u know what, indian army has lost enough soldiers fighting they way u people asked for, pls let them do their job. else pleasejoin army and make it professional. have u tasted the heat of bullet in ur body??????
Indian Army needs to urgently modernize and start 'thinking out of the box'. A new innovation, mabye, new miniature robots that can go around and kill militants in Pakistan and elsewhere will be useful. Something like predator drones. Only they can be very small, loaded with poison. Kill the Pakistan whereever he is hiding.
I have no doubt about their dedication and commitment to the cause. I salute each and every soldier, who are prepared tp lay there life, where most of the civilian are playing the games of politics and corruption. by professional, I meant to be it to improve upon the intelligence and swift action capacity. our government need to give them full support to improve the professionalism, rather than making them disgrunted on petty issues like " pay commission" etc.I am prould of our army.
Sandeep I have all regards for our army, but what ever going on there is quite painful. Surgical operation means swift and precise operation. I will request you to tell me, why this operation has taken so much time? If we cant do here, whats the guarantee we can doin POK? lets have reality check. may be we are professional but situation is too difficult. can any learned reader, give the realprofessional opinion about it?
Do you have any idea of the area in which the operations are spread? When you are in such a terrain where there are hundreds of places to hide and visibility is barely 10 meters, doing anything in haste is only going to result in loss of soldiers. Imagine yourself in their shoes. Would you just let your men, with whom you eat, laugh
let me explain u sandeep, the militants are sitting and are well fortified. other than this they are close to civil populace. army wants to avoid collateral damage. otherwise what does it take to just bomb the place. pls imagine urself amongnst the civil populace there. what would u like?when it comes to cross border raids indian army , to give u statistics, had captured 90000 pakis.cross border ops are different in respect of collateral damge, use of force,weapons and timeframe. the operation has to be completed in a given time frame, no matter at what cost. and believe me Indian army is always ready for supreme sacrifice. jai hind
Here, forget these militants from which country, focus on how we could get rid off these elements that is what is needed. We Indian citizens are tired of hearing the blames, but we never see any corrective action neither from the Defence officials nor from the officials from South Block. What we hear is the repeated announcements "We are well prepared" What preparedness is that when Mumbai was attacked? Hence stop all this find out a way to flush out these elements, thats what is needed for the country. Also ensure that country (India) gives all the best equipments to the soldiers and the fighters of all paramilitary