India claims to have killed seven fighters and is still fighting a Pakistan-backed force of several dozen who crossed a mountainous and thickly forested border area with the aim of killing Indian troops. The events ratchet up tensions just as the two countries’ leaders agreed to work together to de-escalate the situation.
Indian troops and the “infiltrators” were facing off at a distance of around 600 metres, engaged in “controlled firing,” Naresh Vijay Vig, a spokesman for the Indian Army, said on Monday. He said five Indian soldiers had been injured.
Indian officials say the exchange of fire began two weeks ago, when the fighters were spotted in an abandoned village and prevented from advancing farther into Indian territory. Indian troops killed the seven fighters and seized a large cache of arms, including 6 AK-47s, 10 pistols, four grenade launchers and four rocket launchers, an Army spokesman said last Friday.
“They have been stopped,” Army general, Bikram Singh, told reporters in New Delhi, adding: “Some of them have been neutralised. An operation is on to flush them out.” India’s Defence Ministry described the episode as a “Border Action Team” manoeuvre, a reference to a unit of Pakistan’s Army.
A Pakistani military spokesman denied any involvement.
“No such thing happened at all,” the official said, in comments to the Press Trust of India. “This is a blatant lie. We totally deny this baseless allegation.”
The flare-up began just as the prime ministers of Pakistan and India met in an effort to de-escalate the tensions, agreeing that senior military commanders should meet to find ways to uphold the 2003 cease-fire along the so-called line of control. It is considered a crucial step toward peace between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
