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Gunfire breaks out again over LoC

The reported lull in the firing by the Pakistani army along the Line of Control when the prime ministers of India and Pakistan met in Lahore in the third week of February has been broken with a barrage of 19,000 rounds of ammunition on a single day in the Akhnoor sector adjoining Rajauri division where militants had earlier gunned down 23 people.

Indian security forces shot dead two suspected militants, who had perpetrated the atrocity in three different locations, and also killed the self-styled ''division commander of south Kashmir'' and an expert in Improvised Explosive Devices of the Hizbul Mujahideen in Anantnag district. Four militants who were trying to infiltrate into Naushera sector had also been shot dead, said Asia Defence News International in a release today.

A total of 20 militants were killed over the past week and one of the major successes scored by the security forces was the seizure of 30 kg of explosives, 30 electronic detonators, ten IEDs, five time pencils, one Pika long-rang gun with spare barrel, four rocket boosters and four high-power communication sets in Kupwara.

The killing of seven militants in Rajauri and the seizure of two radio sets pointed to the possibility that ISI had instructed the militants to carry out the atrocity on the civilians on the eve of the historic meeting between Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his counterpart Nawaz Sharief in Lahore.

UNI

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