Return
to Story Page
To print: Select File and then Print from your
browser's menu
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, MAY 28: The Indian Air Force today suffered its third loss on the third day of Operation Vijay against Pakistani infiltrators in the Kargil sector when a Mi-17 helicopter was brought down by a surface-to-air missile (SAM) in the Tololing area of Drass sub-sector. All the four crew members are believed to have died.
This follows the loss yesterday of a MiG-27 to an engine malfunction and a MiG-21 to a SAM fired from the Pakistani side of the Line of Control (LOC). This has finally confirmed that some of the infiltrators are armed with the US-made Stinger shoulder-fired SAMs.
The IAF today continued its air strikes on positions occupied by the infiltrators, with Air Vice Marshal S K Malik, Additional Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Ops), summing up the mood at the Air Headquarters: ``It's a loss, but in war or a conflict like this you can have things thrown at you. You have to take the losses.'' Stressing that the Air Force would review its options regarding weaponry and tactics, heconfirmed that there had been about 40 to 50 sorties so far.
Earlier, AVM Malik said Pakistan had been asked to hand over Flt Lt K Nachiketa, who is in their custody. Maj Gen JJ Singh, Additional Director General Military Operations, added it was expected that all ``prisoners would be treated as per the Geneva Conventions'' by Pakistan. He was alluding to the 12 Army officers and jawans who are missing.
With the recovery of the bodies of two soldiers yesterday, the number of missing has gone down to 12, while the toll is 24, with 131 wounded, of whom about 30 are serious.
The Army has made substantial gains on some of the occupied positions. A prominent hill feature in the Drass sub-sector has been retaken by the Army, ``and troops are now holding most of the ridge lines and concurrently launching eviction operations,'' said Maj Gen JJ Singh. Even as the Pakistan Army attempts to push in more militants, led by the Special Service Group, the air strikes ``have been very effective as revealed by groundreports from troops in contact. Some intelligence reports allude to over 200 killed and more wounded,'' he added.
Even as reliable reports come in of Pakistan concentrating militants at other places, there was an attack on an Army forward post in the Rajouri sector today by 25-30 armed personnel supported by artillery fire.
The Pakistani claim of having captured a post in the Nubra area was denied by Maj Gen J J Singh as `a figment of imagination'. He also emphasised that in close coordination with the Air Force the ``deliberate operations being conducted in Kargil sector are moving towards the logical conclusion'' and that the Army ``would not hurry up the operations regardless of casualties''.
Earlier, giving details of the loss of aircraft yesterday AVM Malik read out the transcript of the radio telephony (RT) transmission from the two pilots. When he suffered engine failure Flt Lt Nachiketa came on the RT set to say, ``flameout, reigniting''. He was flying over the Batalik sub-sector, when he said``ejecting''.
On hearing this, Sqd Ldr A Ahuja in a MiG-21 with his code name as Hercules-1, continued to look for him and came low over the heights. He was then hit by a SAM fired from across the LoC for he said ``suspected missile hit''. Although he is also known to have ejected, he is believed to have died.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
------------------------------------------------------------
This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
------------------------------------------------------------