Batalik, consisting of 20 hamlets, is now a complete war zone with the army rushing reinforcements and the inhabitants fleeing to safer places as the sector has borne the brunt of attacks by Pakistani regulars and intruders backed by them.

Senior army officers today said that troops were determined to drive the intruders back and five peaks had been recaptured from them in the Dha sector and one-to-one battle was on in rest of the ridges.

Air strikes by Indian Air Force had been able to make a dent on the forward bases of the intruders.

However, at the second line of defence, the intruders had dug trenches at least 18 foot deep which was revealed after the troops captured three posts in the sub-sector, the army officers said.

Confirming that Pakistan was trying to conceal their regular troops, injured or dead, so asto prevent them from falling into Indian hands, the officers said the Askardu force based in Gilgit (PoK) was in charge of removing the bodies from the battle zone.

Wireless messages intercepted confirmed that intruders were facing heavy losses and retreating from the positions held by them, the army officers said.

Army, besides combating the infiltrators, was also ensuring that no intruder sneaked into the hilly terrain of the region. The officers said the troops were first consolidating their positions and moving ahead to give a befitting reply to the intruders.

The sub-sector, they said, would be cleared off the intruders in a fortnight or so.

Meanwhile, Pakistani troops continued to resort to unprovoked heavy shelling in Kargil sector damaging the office of the deputy commissioner.

One of the shells landed near All India Radio's Kargil station, but caused no damage. Heavy shelling also forced the local MLA and Minister of State for Works, Qamar Ali Akhoon, to spend the night in a bunker alongwith some media persons. State officials based in Boru, two km ahead of Kargil, had been forced to flee the area.

Heavy shelling forced inhabitants to flee their homes in Pandrass, Chowkiyal, Bhimbat, Chinni-Gund areas along the 204-km Srinagar-Kargil highway. The state authorities had made arrangements to rehabilitate the migrants who fled to Mingi, Sankoo and Panigarh areas.