The Army on Monday announced the completion of operations at the military base at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir and presented more evidence of Pakistan’s involvement in the terrorist attack which claimed the lives of 18 soldiers.
“The Army operations have been called off after conducting a detailed search of the area in and around the military complex at Uri,” Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh, Director-General, Military Operations, (DGMO), announced at a media briefing.
The recoveries
The total recoveries from the four slain terrorists include AK-47 rifles, four Under Barrel Grenade Launchers (UBGL), 39 UBGL grenades, five hand grenades, two radio sets, two Global Positioning Sets (GPS), two map sheets, two matrix sheets, one mobile phone and a large number of food and medicine packets having Pakistani markings.
Matrix sheets are used as guidance points during travel.
Talking to the media on Sunday, Lt. Gen. Singh said he had spoken to his Pakistani counterpart after Pakistani markings were noticed on some items and conveyed India’s concerns.
He said infiltration attempts by terrorists had shown a marked increase in comparison to the past 3-4 years and of a total of 110 terrorists eliminated in Jammu & Kashmir, 31 have been killed while they were attempting to cross the Line of Control (LoC).
“It actually indicates a desperate attempt from across the LoC to infiltrate more terrorists into Kashmir with a view to create disturbance and foment unrest in our area,” Lt. Gen. Singh said, adding that the “Indian Army has displayed considerable restraint” while handling the terrorist situations.
Parrikar briefed
The Army has already begun an internal investigation into the incident.
Earlier in the day, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was given a detailed briefing by the Army top brass which included Army Chief Gen. Dalbir Singh and Lt. Gen. Singh on how the terrorists carried out such a large-scale attack.
Official sources said Mr. Parrikar was particularly keen on knowing how the terrorists managed to get into the base and why the level of security at the base was comparatively lower despite the fact that it was just 6 km away from the Line of Control.
