Army officer, 2 militants killed on Line of Control

An army Major and two militants were killed as troops foiled an infiltration attempt by a group of militants near the Line of Control (LoC) in Sonagali area of Mendhar in Poonch district, early today. Third militant, who was critically injured in gun battle, managed to escape to the other side of LoC leaving his weapon and shawl near the encounter site.

Official reports said that the troops manning the LoC, ahead of barbed fence-line, noticed a group of three to four heavily armed militants attempting to sneak into Indian territory from Sonagali at about 11.30 PM last night. When challenged by the ambush party led by Major Akash Singh of 5 Maratha Light Infantry regiment (Barasingha Battalion) deployed at Rocket Post, the militants opened indiscriminate fired and the encounter started. Two militants started heading towards the fence gate while the third provided them the cover fire.

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Army to review third BrahMos test

The Defence Research and Development Organisation said on Sunday that a new version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile had been successfully tested at Pokhran, but sources said the Indian Army is still verifying the test results and will take a decision on induction only after that. The test, conducted on Sunday, is the third one of its kind.

"On March 29, the land attack version of BrahMos Block-II (missile) was tested from a mobile autonomous launcher at Pokhran test range by Indian Army officers. The missile took off successfully at 11.15 am and hit the desired target at "bull's eye", meeting all mission parameters. The launch was witnessed by the directorgeneral of military operations, Lt. Gen. A.S. Sekhon, School of Artillery commandant Lt. Gen. K.R. Rao and additional director-general (artillery) Maj. Gen. V.K. Tiwari, along with other senior Army officers," the DRDO said. The CEO and MD of BrahMos Aerospace Organisation, Dr A. Sivathanu Pillai, and some senior scientists were also present.

"This is the third launch in series for the Block-II version for the Indian Army.

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China drill was to be in Secunderabad

The Indian Army was initially in favour of Secunderabad (Hyderabad’s twin city) being the venue of the second joint Sino-Indian Army exercises in the country, well-placed South Block sources have revealed. The exercise, codenamed Exercise Handin-Hand, has started in Belgaum, Karnataka, which was ultimately selected as the venue. Sources indicated that it was felt in government circles that Belgaum should be the venue, probably because several sensitive defence establishments are located near Secunderabad and Hyderabad. Sources said that the thinking in government circles from the beginning was that the exercise could be held in southern India.

The Army had earlier considered other venues, including Mhow in Madhya Pradesh and Dehradun in Uttarakhand. But once it became clear that the exercise was to be held in southern India, the Army initially proposed that Secunderabad be the venue, sources said. This was due to several reasons.

Sources said that whenever exercises with a large neighbouring country like China are conducted, the focus is on showcasing the best in terms of infrastructure to gain what is known as “moral ascendancy”.

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