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India deploys additional 6,000 troops to IHK

By Iftikhar Gilani

NEW DELHI: India has deployed an additional 6,000 troops in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) following the incidents of firing and alleged infiltration attempts into India by Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC).

While the army is reported to have deployed 5,000 additional troops in Kupwara sector, the Border Security Forces (BSF) has also moved 1,000 troops to maintain a presence in Samba sector in the Jammu region.

Army sources said the troops moved to strengthen the 28th division currently in Kupwara are part of the reserve force of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps. They will be posted to Tangdhar, Keran, Macchal and Gurez sectors. In addition, the army has asked for more units of the Rashtriya Rifles to raise the number of troops in the Kupwara sector to 30,000.

BSF Director General AK Mitra said he was also moving 1,000 jawans to Samba sector to augment forces, besides deploying high-tech equipment to stop infiltration.

Admitting that the BSF had thought that the fencing was “impregnable”, he said, “it is a lesson and we have learnt it.”

He said the Pakistan Rangers’ role in recent infiltration bids in this sector “cannot be ruled out” as “some cartridges used by the Rangers have been found”.

Mitra’s visit to Samba came in the backdrop of a May 9 infiltration bid by militants from Pakistan and an encounter in which two insurgents were shot dead in the sector. Four civilians, including a photojournalist and two army jawans, were also killed in the encounter.

To prevent any such infiltration bid in the future, Mitra said that fencing along the border at Samba would be moved 100mts towards the international border.

Mitra said that two more battalions were being relieved of counter-insurgency operations in Kashmir, adding that they would now be posted to the Jammu region as reserves.

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