``These are very well-trained infiltrators on a suicidal mission and are not leaving their positions. They are armed with machine guns, Pika guns, rocket launchers and AK rifles. They have holed up on the heights and our troops have to close up on them,'' said the 15 Corps Commander Lt Gen Krishan Pal, while addressing a press conference here today.

Meanwhile, latest reports from the Northern Command HQs at Udhampur said the Army had gained control over most of the Drass sector. ``The Army has blocked the movement of the infiltrators southwards in the Muhsko Valley and is engaging the infiltrators with artillery fire even as ground troopsare closing in,'' said P P S Bindera, who is Maj Gen (General Staff) at the Northern Command HQs.

While no body of the infiltrators has been recovered on account of the heights, the casualty figures have been calculated on the basis of the radio intercepts by the RAW, IB and the Army's own signals network.

Lt Gen Pal said the aim of the ``Pakistani ISI and Army-backed infiltration was to revive the defeated proxy war and internationalise the situation by building up a war hysteria.''