Some terrorists are ex-Pak soldiers: Gen

Some terrorists who infiltrated into India from across the border are retired Pakistan soldiers, one of the army's senior-most generals said on Friday, a day after forces gunned down a top Lashkar-eTaiba (LeT) commander and his associate during a 31-hour gunfight in Jammu's Rajouri district that also saw five soldiers, including two army captains, losing their lives.

- Ravi Krishnan Khajuria

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Northern Command, Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi, said the army tried to seek the identification of the terrorists and came to know that some of them were retired army personnel from Pakistan.

"Since our (anti-terror) operations are continuing here, Pakistan's attempt is to bring foreign terrorists here (and fuel terrorism) because local recruitment is not happening. Therefore, our attempt is to eliminate foreign terrorists," he told reporters after paying his respects to the five army personnel at a wreath-laying ceremony.

"Roughly there is a possibility of 20 to 25 terrorists operating in the area but the way the army, police and other intelligence agencies have intensified their operations, we are sure to control the situation within one year," he added.

The encounter broke out between security forces and terrorists in the Bajimaal area of Kalakote tehsil of Rajouri district on Wednesday morning after officers from the army and Jammu & Kashmir Police acted on an intelligence input and launched a cordon-and-search operation in the area.