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Army launches attack on Tiger Hills

The Indian Army lost 23 men, including three officers, in the last 24 hours in 'fire assaults' and offensives in the Drass and Batalik sub-sectors while 21 Pakistan Army soldiers and terrorists were killed, an army spokesman said in New Delhi today.

A report from Srinagar said troops, backed by the Indian Air Force, launched an offensive to recapture the strategic Tiger Hills, the lone conical feature under occupation by the intruders directly overlooking the Srinagar-Leh highway.

At least 10 Pakistani soldiers were killed after their bunkers were destroyed in retaliatory shelling by Indian troops in the northern sector while two Kargil-bound soldiers were killed and five others wounded in a mine blast at Ganderbal on the Srinagar-Kargil highway today.

This was the fourth bomb blast on the highway. About a dozen soldiers have been killed and several others injured in the blasts since the Kargil conflict began.

"The battles become bloodier as you get closer [to the Line of Control]," army spokesman Colonel Bikram Singh said when asked why there were so many casualties.

The officers who were killed in the operations were Major C B Dwivedi from the Regiment of Artillery, Captain Jintu Gogoi from the Garhwal Rifles, and Lieutenant Keishing Clifird Nongrum of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry.

The total Indian casualties have thus risen to 240 killed, 420 wounded and nine missing in action.

A total of 467 Pakistan Army soldiers have been killed so far, besides 183 mercenaries.

Colonel Singh said that although operations in both the Batalik and Drass sectors are progressing as per the operational plans, the large number of casualties has occurred because fighting is getting closer to the LoC, where it is easier for Pakistan to replenish its defences.

Also, the Indian troops are vulnerable because in this conflict, the defender (the Pakistani on the heights) has the advantage. "He can see everybody coming up. The attack approaches are very few. The Indian soldiers have to move in a line on the ridgeline and they are exposed."

The Kargil Crisis

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