Poonch (Jammu and Kashmir): Army on Wednesday apprehended three persons along with a huge consignment of narcotics and arms and ammunition while a soldier was injured in a brief exchange of fire near the border fence in Khari area along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.
In a press statement issued this morning, Jammu based Defence spokesman Lt Col Devender Anand said that in a joint operation by Indian Army along with JK Police, “likely three to four terrorists were intercepted on Line of Control in Poonch sector while attempting to cross the fence on the night of 30/ 31 May 2023, taking the advantage of bad weather and heavy rains”.
“After tracking the movement at about 0130 hours, a well sited Indian Army ambush on challenging them was fired upon and in the retaliatory firefight some terrorists have been hit,” the Defence PRO said. In the ensuing operation, three terrorists with some weapons, war-like stores including one IED and narcotics have been apprehended, he said adding one Indian Army soldier identified as sepoy Jaspreet Singh was injured in the ensuing firing and has been evacuated.
Also read: Pak intruder shot dead along LoC in Poonch
Search operations are in progress in the area. According to a police spokesman, the arrested persons have been identified as Mohd Riaz, 23, son of Mohd Farooq, Mohd Farooq, 26, son of Mohd Rafeeq, who has received bullet injury in left leg in the incident and Mohd Zubair, 22, son of Mohd Razaq, all residents of Karmara.
Arms and ammunition and narcotics including one AK 56, one AK Magazine, ten AK rounds, two pistols, four Pistol Magazines, 70 Pistol rounds, six grenades, 20 packets of heroine like substance and one suspected IED Like substance covered in a pressure cooker, police said. It can be recalled that a similar incident was reported in Mendhar area of the district when the Indian Army opened fire after observing suspicious movement in in the wee hours of May 21.
The soldiers patrolling in Keri-Gulutha area of Mendhar had observed some movement in the bordering area during a search operation at 3:30 am. The soldiers fired a few shots towards the side suspected spot, but there was no retaliation. No loss of life or injury was reported in the incident. That incident came a day after the Army shot dead a Pakistani intruder along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Poonch district.
During the subsequent search operation, an IED and a huge consignment of drugs were recovered from the intruder as per officials.
