Union Minister Prakash Javadekar

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 13

Militants attacked an Army patrol in the Tral area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district this morning. No one was, however, injured in the firing.Sources said an Army party had gone to Seer Jageer village, some 40 km from Srinagar, for mapping the area when militants fired at it.“The fire was retaliated and the area was immediately cordoned off to track the militants,” police sources said. There was no contact with the militants during the search that followed. The operation was later called off.The militants, sources said, managed to escape from the area soon after firing at the Army patrol.The firing took place days after a young Kashmiri Army officer was killed by militants in neighbouring Shopian district. The Army officer was home on leave to attend the wedding of a relative.South Kashmir has witnessed a spurt in militant attacks this month.

Pak knows it cannot defeat India: JavadekarBengaluru: Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday said incidents like the attack on an Army patrol in Kashmir by terrorists were part of the tactics by Pakistan, which knew it could not fight and win a conventional war with India. “There are no two opinions. Pakistan knows that it cannot defeat India. They cannot fight a war against India and therefore what they are doing is, it is their strategy. But it will be defeated, even as they are isolated in the international forum,” he told reporters here. Javadekar was replying to a query on terrorists opening fire on a patrol party of the Army in Tral township of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district earlier in the day. PTI