High in the snow-clad peaks, these four soldiers were trying to destroy enemy-held positions, almost four km inside Indian territory. An artillery shell of the Pakistan Army directly hit the bunker where the Observation Post (OP) officer and three other jawans were tracking enemy positions. Their identities could not be immediately known.

Gloom descended on Kaksar, an area witnessing heavy infiltration. Troop casualties here have been high and the progress rather limited. A field commander here said the offensive for both Kaksar and Tiger Hills was going to be tough with some casualties and injuries -- many of them due to sniper fire.

Officers said the field commanders had requested Army headquarters to provide periscopes to help them watch the enemy movement. ``But they are still to reach most of the field commandersin Kaksar and Drass. Some people received a periscope of a tank which is so heavy it cannot be lugged to 17,000 feet, and it's not effective for long-distance viewing and night operations,'' said an officer.

``They could watch the enemy movement sitting behind boulders and then react accordingly. At present, it is near-blind movement for them. The enemy can watch them but they cannot,'' he added.

Attempts to contact senior army officers in Kargil and Drass Brigade Headquarters met with no response.

It was the same with the soldiers killed last night. ``These troops were at a place where they could be seen by the enemy. But they had to remain there because this was the only place from where could see enemy positions and the Line of Control (LoC),'' an officer said. A young artillery OP officer, a Captain, was also killed here about a fortnight ago in similar shelling by Pakistan artillery.

The Kaksar-Kharboo stretch of National Highway 1-A remains highly unsafe with Pakistan anti-aircraft guns firingin a ground roll, said one officer. The soldiers said a major offensive would be launched to clear the Kaksar area as soon as the Drass sector, including Tiger Hills, was cleared of Pakistani intruders. A fierce bunker-to-bunker battle was on for the recovery of Tiger Hills.

The Army has made some headway in the Kaksar belt. ``Until a few days ago, the enemy was using snowmobiles but effective infantry action and attempts to cordon off the area have limited the enemy's operations. We are trying to corner the infiltrators here. In fact, the enemy supply line is being heavily pounded by our artillery guns,'' an officer said.

Meanwhile, the Army here today said important gains had been made in the Batalik sector with several posts falling over the past two days.

A senior Army officer of Division III said wireless intercepts indicated that the enemy morale was falling with supplies not reaching them. The Air Force too carried out operations in the Batalik sector, causing heavy damage to the enemycamps.

After having faced a crushing rout in Drass, Pakistani forces had intensified operations in Kaksar and Batalik. But an artillery unit commander pounding the Batalik-Yaldor sector said Bofors guns were wreaking havoc on enemy gun positions.