Indian Army disrupts infiltration; seizes ammunition in Hamirpur, Balakot

Refuting false claims made by a newspaper of another surgical strike occurring in Hamirpur, Balakote Sector of Jammu & Kashmir in its Poonch district. The Ministry of Defence set the record straight on 21 Aug 2023 on the infiltration of 2 terrorists. The Ministry said that they crossed the LoC onto the Indian Side, “making use of inclement weather, dense fog, thick foliage, and undulating ground in the Hamirpur area of Balakote Sector.”

“Intelligence Inputs received from Multiple Intelligence agencies and Jammu and Kashmir Police revealed the presence of terrorists waiting to cross the LC from opposite own Balakote Sector. Based on these inputs own surveillance grid was placed on heightened alert and multiple ambushes were sited at suitable location,” the ministry’s statement read by Lieutenant Colonel Suneel Bartwal.

The terrorists’ infiltration into the ambush sites was met by effective fire which backed them into a corner with no option but to flee using the harsh weather and ground conditions. The Ministry further shared, “However effective fire resulted in one terrorist falling on the ground near the LC. Additional troops were then moved into the area and search operations commenced in the afternoon after improvement of weather conditions and visibility.”

A top police officer said the terrorists holed up in Parigam possibly managed to be missed by security forces due to dense and vast paddy fields and the darkness. The searches subsequently did not yield anything despite drone surveillance of the area. Later, Indian Army began a search patrol by deploying additional troops in the region to discover an AK 47 rifle with two magazines, 30 rounds, two grenades, and Pak-origin medicines along with bloody trails leading to the Line of Control.

This incident was misreported by a newspaper that cited sources to claim the Indian Army destroyed 4 launch pads of Pakistani terrorists by entering 2.5 kilometers across the Line of Control on the eve of Saturday. It further spread disinformation by claiming the ambush to be a successful surgical strike that killed 7-8 terrorists with no casualties on the Indian Army’s side.

While the Army did foil the attempts of the terrorists to intrude on Indian land, it wasn’t a high-scale strike nor were there more than 2 terrorists detected in the region. Moreover, the ministry reported their successful flee attempt to the other side of LoC, however, they did succumb to their injuries due to effective fires as depicted by the blood discovered.

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