Click to play videoSrinagar: After six days of fierce encounter in Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir 17 terrorists have been shot dead while the Indian Army has lost eight soldiers.
The role of the Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba in the encounter has been confirmed and the Army believes the map, guidance systems and equipment with the terrorists is a clear indication of assistance from across the border.
With the summer setting in, Army believes the encounter could just be the beginning of renewed terror activities in the state.
Apart from the huge cache of guns and ammunition, the boots, rucksacks, maps and medicine suggest the first group of infiltrating Pakistani terrorists were primed to launch deadly attacks on security forces.
Taking advantage of the abandoned winter Army positions, Pakistan has started to launch terrorists through the porous Line of Control.
"The maps, guidance, communication equipments with them are indicative that the state and security forces assistance from across the border was there," said Army spokesperson Brigadier Gurmeet Singh.
Army sources say that Pakistan is bent upon launching bigger radicalised groups of 17-20 members, mostly from the battle-hardened areas of Swat and frontier areas and also the Taliban militia which is lurking very close in the neighbour's backyard.
"There are likely more terrorists waiting infiltration and we are prepared for that. Assessed terrorists strength is about 300-400," said Brigadier Singh.
In one of the most gruelling and long-drawn encounters in Jammu and Kashmir, the Army has finally succeeded in killing 17 terrorists but with improvement in weather and more infiltrating routes opening up, there are more challenges in store for them especially as the state is gearing up for elections.
Meanwhile, Army chief General Deepak Kapoor also confirmed the presence of terror camps across the border.
"We recovered 23 rifles and six GPS's which shows that they enter our territory well equipped. This is definitely an indication of stepped up efforts at infiltration. How much they succeed we will know when snow melts. But we are quite prepared to meet any contingency as time passes," said General Deepak Kapoor
"I can definitely say that Lashkar is very much still active. As far as the number of camps is concerned since they keep shifting, I would hazard a guess of anything between 40 to 50. They do keep shifting as they don't wish to be at one particular location. They can keep shifting but the fact is that there are terrorists waiting on the other side to try and cross over as soon as the conditions are more conducive," added General Kapoor.
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