Mopping-up op against militants still on in Machil area of LoC

Srinagar, Nov 9 (IANS) The mopping-up operation against militants in Machil area on the Line of Control (LoC) -- which had claimed the lives of three soldiers, one BSF trooper and 3 militants -- was still underway on Monday, a senior police officer said.Border Security Force Additional Director General (ADG) Surinder Pawar said that since the Machil terrain was uneven, a sanitisation and mopping-up operation was continuing there to rule out the presence of more militants.Pawar gave the information to reporters at BSF's Humhama headquarters here on the sidelines of a wreath-laying ceremony of Constable Sudhir, who was killed on Sunday during the encounter with militants.Pawar said Captain Ashutosh Kumar and two Army soldiers were also killed on Sunday.Talking about infiltration incidents on the LoC, he said: "Only 25 to 30 militants managed to sneak on to this side of the LoC this year compared with 135 to 140 last year."Our counter-infiltration grid is very strong. Sunday's bid was a major infiltration attempt that was foiled by alert troops."About future infiltration bids, the officer said that 250 to 300 militants were present at different launch pads across the LoC in Pakistan territory, who might try to infiltrate Indian territory before winter snow.
--IANS sq/tsb