'Intruders' killed during BAT attack could be Pak commandos: Army

The Army suspects the two "armed intruders" killed during the BAT (border action team) operation in the Poonch district along the Line of Control in Kashmir on

Thursday afternoon, could be Special Services Group (SSG) commandos from the Pakistan Army.

The Indian Army has recovered an AK-47 assault rifle, magazines, grenades and daggers from the intruder whose body was left behind after the intense firefight around 600 metres inside Indian territory in the Krishna Ghati sector.

The body of another intruder was dragged back across the LoC by the six or seven-member BAT during the encounter, in which two Indian soldiers from the Maratha Light Infantry also lost their lives.

"The way the BAT operation was conducted by the well-trained intruders dressed in combat fatigues, who resolutely engaged our 10-member patrol with accurate firing instead of fleeing like terrorists normally do after they are detected; the recoveries made and radio intercepts, among other things, all clearly point towards the involvement of SSG commandos. But yes, there is no conclusive evidence yet," a senior officer said.

BAT operations are usually the handiwork of the SSG commandos trained for covert and irregular missions across the LoC, in conjunction with terrorists, after careful reconnaissance and study of vulnerable spots and patrolling patterns of Indian troops.

The BAT action on Thursday against the Maratha Light Infantry's "area domination patrol" between two forward posts, near the Chakan da Bagh crossing point between India and Pakistan, was the third such incident in the Poonch area this year.

The Indian Army is "pro-actively dominating" the 778-km long LoC, which includes destruction of Pakistan Army's posts aiding infiltration through "pre-emptive and punitive fire assaults", as part of the overall counter-terrorism strategy put in place after the beheading of two Indian soldiers in a cross-border BAT raid-cum-ambush in the same Krishna Ghati sector on May 1.