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Army advances, Srinagar-Leh road almost secure

The Indian troops have pushed the Pakistani intruders further north of Tololing, inflicting heavy casualties and considerably reducing the threat to national highway 1-A, a defence ministry spokesman said in New Delhi Monday.

The army had captured Tololing on May 29.

As many as 17 Indian personnel, including Major Vivek Gupta, two junior commissioned officers, five others of the Rajputana Rifles battalion and nine others from the Grenadiers were killed during the battle.

The body of Major R S Adhikari, killed while evicting the infiltrators from Tololing on May 29, has also been recovered.

The spokesman said that the Rajputana Rifles evicted the enemy from point 4590 located north of Tololing. Point 4590 is the nearest place that overlooks the highway.

''The threat to the road and danger to convoys has considerably reduced,'' he said.

A battalion of the Grenadiers had progressed in operations beyond point 4590. The heights north of this feature have also been captured, the spokesman said.

He said the intruders had left behind "a large number of their dead and a huge haul of arms and ammunition," including three rocket launchers, eight machine guns, one automatic grenade launcher, one each 65 mm and 51 mm mortar, 13 AK-56 rifles, 24 mines and three gas masks.

So far 103 Indian soldiers, including eight officers, have been killed. The Pakistani casualties stand at 267 killed.

The spokesman said the operations to isolate the enemy and ''degrade'' his fighting potential were progressing satisfactorily. However, the enemy was targeting innocent civilians in the Kargil sector and also resorting to artillery and mortar firing at various other places along the Line of Control.

Areas in Kanzalwan, Poonch, Krishnaghati, Bhimbergali and Nowshera are being subjected to mortar firing, he said.

He said that India was responding in a befitting manner. "If there is firing from across the LoC, we retaliate," he said, "But at the same time we are committed to its sanctity as it has been very carefully delineated and very appropriately authenticated. We expect Pakistan to also to do that.''

He said that all major supply lines to the infiltrators were being intercepted, although it was ''very, very difficult'' to do so in such a difficult terrain.

"Limited air operations" were also conducted by the Indian Air Force, its spokesman Group Captain Rajaram said.

To a query about suspected air space violation in Jammu region by Pakistan last weekend, the group captain said the reports were still being verified.

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