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EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, JUNE 29: The Army's success in capturing two strategic positions west of Tololing, just 5 km from Tiger Hills, yesterday in the Drass sub-sector has more or less ensured that the Pakistan Army intruders have now lost their direct view of the Srinagar-Leh highway.
``The capture of these objectives (Point 4700 and Black Rock Heights) will remove the enemy's domination of the NH-1A,'' said Army spokesperson Col Bikram Singh today. ``Besides it will provide a firm base to our troops to further our operations.''
This highway is crucial to the Army for carrying supplies to forward positions as well as movement of convoys from Srinagar to different parts of the Kargil Sector. The road is also used for routing arms, ammunition and rations to troops stationed in Siachen.
A senior officer said the Army's latest success, along with that at Point 5140 on the Tololing Ridge on June 20, however does not mean that Pakistani shells will not land on NH-1A anymore.
``But earlier, every time an Army convoywould pass through, they could spot it and start raining shells. On several occasions we have used civilian trucks for transportation to thwart such attacks,'' the officer said.
Until June 20, when troops recaptured Point 5140 which overlooks the highway, the artillery fire was especially bad. ``But what is important now is that the intruders can't have a direct view of any major section of the highway though they can still fire their artillery guns from positions further away,'' the officer said.
Col Singh, nevertheless, added that supply lines to Indian troops in Kargil and Siachen sectors are open and the Army's operations have never been hampered, irrespective of the Pakistani shelling.
Meanwhile, the Army's efforts to cut off the intruders' supply lines bore fruit once again yesterday when they intercepted an animal transport column in the Drass sub-sector. The column, comprising 30 mules and 15 men, dispersed after the Army artillery guns fired. Two days ago, troops had managed to push back asimilar transport column which crossed the LoC from the PoK side and was heading towards the intruders' positions in the Drass area.
Combat aircraft of the Air Force complemented the Army's efforts in destroying the intruders' supply lines by carrying out ``effective air strikes'' in the Drass and Batalik sub-sectors and Mushkoh Valley last night.
Air Force spokesperson Group Captain D N Ganesh said: ``Group troops have confirmed that the air strikes were very successful. The bottomline for successful air operations remains target acquisition, that is we have to spot the targets. In all cases when the targets have been spotted, a high rate of success has resulted, irrespective of the aircraft or weapon used.''
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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