No Kargil-like situation in Keran sector, says Army chief

Army chief General Bikram Singh on Friday dismissed the suggestion that a Kargil-like situation has developed in the Keran sector in Jammu and Kashmir where around 40 terrorists backed by the Pakistan Army are fighting with soldiers and asserted that they would be flushed out soon.

Gen Singh also made it clear that the terrorists have not occupied any Indian village along the Line of Control.

"It is nothing like that. It was an infiltration attempt by 30 to 40 terrorists," he told reporters when asked whether a Kargil-like situation has developed in Keran sector.

The Army chief said the militants attempted infiltration at four or five places and the security forces had information about it.

"They have been stopped, prevented. Some of them have been neutralised. Operations are on to flush them out. It is a matter of time," he said.

Asked whether the terrorists, backed by the Pakistan Army, have occupied any Indian village along the LoC, Gen Singh said no such incident had happened there.

"There was nothing like that. You heard the (15) corps commander. He clarified that. No village has been occupied," he said.

The Army chief also denied that any army post or bunker has been occupied by the terrorists and their suspected Pakistan Army accomplices.

"Nothing like that. It is an area where they are coming. We are dominating them from all sides and the terrorists are holed up. It is a broken ground. It is difficult treacherous terrain. They are stuck in that and we will take them on. It is a question of time," he said.