Army says Pak posts in Naushera sector demolished

The Indian Army today claimed that it has demolished Pakistani army posts in Naushera sector of Jammu and Kashmir that was giving support to infiltrators, in yet another successful counter-insurgency operation.

The Army is reported to have used rocket launchers, anti-tank guided missiles, automated grenade launchers and recoilless guns to pound Pakistani positions.

"The Pakistan Army has been providing support to armed infiltrators...In recent actions in Naushera (border sector of Rajouri district), we have caused damage to Pakistan army posts," Army spokesperson Major Gen Ashok Narula said.

While the Army spokesman refused to give exact timing of the operation, he said it was "recent, very recent" operation.

The Indian Army also released a video showing punitive artillery assault on a Pakistan Army post. The video showed what looked like a forested area being bombed and smoke and fire billowing up after the explosion.

"This is part of our counter-terror strategy. So that the number of terrorists (in the state) is brought down and Kashmir youth do not tread a wrong path," he said.

The Pakistani military's top spokesman, Major General Asif Ghafoor, dismissed the Indian report. "Indian claims of destroying Pakistani post along LoC ... and firing by Pak Army on civilians across LoC are false," he said.

The two armies, however, face off along the heavily militarised frontier that divide Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and India-held Kashmir.

Pakistan often uses border skirmishes as cover to send militants across the border to launch attacks and support separatist elements in Kashmir.

Pakistan denies it but says it continues to provide moral support to separatists in Muslim-majority Kashmir.

Narula said security forces had stepped up operations along the border because infiltrations would rise with the melting of winter snow and the opening of mountain passes.