The infiltrators opened fire when challenged by the Border Security Force. (Representational)
A major infiltration bid by a group of five heavily-armed terrorists, under cover fire provided by the Pakistani Rangers, was scuttled along the International Border in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir, a spokesman of the Border Security Force (BSF) said on Sunday.
All the five terrorists fled back to Pakistan in the face of effective retaliation by the border guarding force, the spokesman said, adding this was the second unsuccessful infiltration attempt from across the border in Samba district in the past fortnight.
On the intervening night of September 26 and 27, the spokesman said BSF troops noticed movement of a group of terrorists who were attempting to infiltrate into this side.
The infiltrators opened fire when challenged by the BSF.
Officials said the incident took place in Mangu Chak Border Outpost (BOP) area of Ghagwal around 11.45 pm and small arms firing between the India and Pakistani troops lasted for about 30 minutes.
"Taking advantage of darkness and thick Sarkanda (grass variety) growth, the heavily-armed terrorist group tried to enter into Indian Territory and opened fire when challenged by the BSF. Pakistani Rangers also fired on Indian posts to provide fire cover to the infiltrating terrorists who, however, fled back due to coordinated and effective fire by BSF," the spokesman said.
A similar attempt by a group of terrorists was foiled in Samba sector on the intervening night of September 14 and 15.
Earlier, a BSF official said a massive search operation was launched early this morning to sanitise the area.
"The search operation is on but no incriminating material has been recovered so far," he said.
There has been a spurt in incidents of airdropping of weapons by drones and smuggling of narcotics along the IB and Line of Control (LoC) amid frequent ceasefire violations in Jammu and Kashmir over the past few weeks.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)