Army commandos cross LoC, kill 3 Pak soldiers

Jammu/New Delhi: Nearly a year after the Indian Army conducted a ‘surgical strike’ along the Line of Control (LoC) dismantling several terror camps operating there, its brave officers executed yet another ''localised tactical operation" late on Monday.

The Indian Army has reportedly carried out the fresh surgical strike by crossing over the Line of Control and planting explosives on Pakistani side to surprise the enemy during the 'mini surgical strike' it carried out.

According to the new details emerging from the Monday's cross-border raids, the IED blasts were targeted for initial damage on the Pakistani side.

It was followed by heavy firing by the Indian troops. The raids, which were conducted across the Line of Control (LoC), resulted in the killing of three Pakistani soldiers.

The Indian Army "short-distance raid" was described as a "selective targeting across the LoC" by highly-placed sources in the country's Defence establishment.

The operation was also seen as the Indian Army's "tit-for-tat" reply for the attack carried out by the Pakistani troops in the Keri sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district on December 23, which resulted in the killing of one Major and three Army jawans. If the sources are to be believed, the Indian Army's raid of Monday was almost an "exact replica" of the raid conducted by the Pakistani soldiers on December 23. The Pakistani troops who suffered casualties were from 59 Balooch Unit of the Rakhchakri Battalion of the Rawalkot Brigade.

According to sources, the Pakistani troops came under heavy fire from a select team of the Indian Army which resorted to heavy shelling on a temporary post and a patrol party belonging to the hostile neighbouring country around 6 pm. Heavy firing continued from both sides for hours even as the raid ended and the situation continued to remain tense.

Members of the Indian Army's 'Ghatak' team first triggered an explosion nearly 200-300 metres across the LoC and then opened heavy shelling on the 10-member strong Pakistani patrol party on Monday evening. According to sources, around four Indian Army troops conducted this raid.

Sources said that the Pakistani patrol party was probably in the area to lay a counter-ambush. "We were able to locate and target them," a highly-placed source said.

According to the initial assessment, three Pakistani troops were killed, and one badly injured in the raid, but intelligence reports indicate that the toll could go up. Meanwhile, Pakistani officials said that Indian fire across the Line of Control in the disputed Kashmir region killed three Pakistani soldiers, says a report from Islamabad.

In a statement, the military said the "unprovoked cease-fire violation'' was in Rawalkot in Pakistan's part of Kashmir. Officials said Pakistan also returned fire, but no other details were available.