Home Minister, Defence Minister and Army Chief review situation in Kashmir
On the day of a terror attack in Uri when four terrorists were killed and 17 soldiers martyred, the Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Army Chief General Dalbir Singh visited Kashmir to take stock of the ongoing operations and review the overall security situation in Kashmir.
They were briefed by the Northern Army and Chinar Corps Commanders Lt Gen DS Hooda and Lt Gen Satish Dua respectively at Srinagar on the Uri attack and the operation launched to neutralise the terrorists. While three of the four heavily armed terrorists were eliminated within the initial fifteen minutes of establishing contact, the fourth was neutralized later and four AK-47 rifles and equal number of UBGLs along with other war like stores were recovered from them. Unfortunately, 17 soldiers have attained martyrdom in the operation. 13 of these soldiers died as they were trapped in the tents and shelters that caught fire due to the explosives used by the terrorists.
The Defence Minister was briefed about the security grid along the Line of Control (LoC) and the hinterland also covering the deployment of the additional forces that have been recently inducted into the Valley. The need for heightened vigil both on the LoC and hinterland and to remain prepared for any eventuality was stressed upon. There have been a number of infiltration attempts that the Army has foiled recently. It may be recalled that in the last one week itself, three such attempts were foiled in Kupwara Sector when four terrorists were killed and another group of four terrorists was eliminated in Poonch.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh expressed his distress at the terror incident in Uri and the loss of 17 brave soldiers martyred and hoped for the speedy recovery of the injured. Extending his condolences to the families of the martyred, the Home Minister said that those behind this terror incident would be brought to justice.
Pakistan is a terrorist state and it should be identified and isolated as such.
There are definite and conclusive indications that the perpetrators were highly trained, heavily armed and specially equipped.
On being briefed about the internal security situation in the hinterland, the Army Chief reiterated the importance of complete synergy amongst all security, intelligence and other government agencies to ensure calm and prevent the terrorists and other inimical forces from moving with impunity and intimidating the populace.
