17 Pak, 8 Indian soldiers killed in border firing

SRINAGAR, Nov 10 (PTI) — Eight Army personnel, including a Captain, were killed and 12 others injured in attacks by Pakistani intruders and intensified shelling on two border posts in north Kashmir today, Army sources said.

Four Army personnel were killed and nine injured as the Indian forces repulsed a Pakistani attack under cover of heavy artillery shelling at a forward post in the Gulmarg sector early this morning.

An Army spokesman said four Army personnel were killed and three wounded at a border post in the adjoining Tangdhar sector last night in intense and continuous firing by the Pakistani forces from across the Line of Control.

The attacks on these two border posts come in the wake of Pakistani forces unsuccessful bid to capture the ‘Faulad’ border post in Uri sector last night in which 17 Pakistani soldiers were killed.

The attack on the Gulmarg post was preceded by intense artillery duel and the Indian troops repulsed the attack forcing the Pakistani troops to retreat.

The reports said after yesterday’s abortive attempt, the Pakistani forces had intensified heavy and medium artillery fire along a 60 km stretch of the LoC from Yousmurg to Tangdhar sectors.

Some shells fell in the famous tourist resort of Gulmarg where a building of the ski-ropeway project was partially damaged.

Giving details of last night’s attack on the Uri border post, a Defence Ministry spokesman said 17 Pakistani soldiers were killed when the Indian forces launched a counter-attack after repulsing the initial Pakistani assault.

Earlier reports had put the Pakistani casualties at 10.

The spokesman said the bodies were seen lying near the LoC and could not so far be retrieved in view of continuous shelling and non-stop snowfall.

An Army spokesman in New Delhi said nine militants were killed by the security forces in two major encounters in the Kashmir valley today.

According to reports, after the attack on the Gulmarg post the Army had launched a massive operation against the militants in north Kashmir.

According to intelligence sources, the Pakistani military was now adopting a new pattern of hit-and-run attacks on the border posts using terrorists from hardcore mercenary groups to pin down the Indian security forces.

The sources said the new pattern emerging after post-Kargil debacle was that the Pakistani army was using mercenary groups, each with 30 to 40 members, to launch near suicidal attacks on border posts.

The mercenary groups were sneaking into the Indian territory under the cover of heavy firing by Pakistani troops to attack Indian military posts plant mines and IEDs before scurrying back.

After the military ruler, Gen Pervez Musharraf, stated recently that as far as Pakistan's border with Jammu and Kashmir was concerned there would be de-escalation except on the international border. The Pakistan army had deployed additional forces and installed long-range guns at several places across Uri, Karnah, Kupwara, Keran, Gulmarg, Poonch and Rajouri.

It is in this context that the Indian troops have been directed to take suitable measures for preventing Pakistani soldiers from repeating Kargil on the valley's border.

Official sources said Pakistan's plan of intrusion from different sectors was to dilute troops concentration within the state for carrying out counter-insurgency operations. After the recent armed attack on the Defence Ministry's Public Relations Office in the cantonment area of Srinagar, in which 10 Army personnel, including a PRO, were killed, the Indian forces have tightened security.

Pak Deputy High Commissioner summoned
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 10 — India today summoned the Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner to convey New Delhi’s strong protest at the anti-India tirade during the annual congregation of Lashkar-e-Toiba, from November 3 to 5 at Muridke near Lahore.

The Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner, Mr Akbar Zeb, was summoned to the External Affairs Ministry and was told by the Joint Secretary in charge of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan that "it was particularly reprehensible that open threats against India were made by the terrorists during the Lashkar-e-Toiba’s annual congregation and that the Pakistani authorities had taken no action against those who had made these threats and had used provocative language".

"This was yet another manifestation of Pakistan’s support to international terrorism", a spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs said briefing newspersons. "The Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner was also told that the Government of India once again called upon the Pakistani authorities to abandon their irresponsible support of cross-border terrorism", the spokesman said adding that "our strong concerns" were conveyed.

Earlier, India had described the Lashkar-e-Toiba’s three-day meeting as "outrageous".

Even on November 2, New Delhi had asked Islamabad to "facilitate restoration of trust through actions". Pakistan must "abandon its state-sponsored terrorism against India in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere, and it must also cease hostile anti-India propaganda", the spokesman had stressed last week.