Artillery guns pounded the territory occupied by the Pakistan intruders through the night and several Pak Army regulars are said to have been killed.

However, one Indian artillery soldier at a gun position was killed in counter bombardment by the enemy this morning. Pakistan also indulged in extremely heavy shelling in the Drass and Kargil areas. Flying splinters also hit a petrol tanker which exploded, affecting movement on the Srinagar-Leh highway.

After the success in Tiger Hill and the near completion of operations in Drass -- barring stray pockets of resistance -- the Army is now clearing Kaksar. Intruders had the advantage of height here since they had a view of the highway from their posts.

The Army's operations to clear the Kaksar sub-sector, 20 km from Kargil, began around 9 p.m. yesterday. Both Bofors and 105-mm field guns began simultaneous poundingof the posts along the Kaksar ridgeline. Here, Pak intruders have come in at least four to six km of the Line of Control (LoC).

``Initially, we provided fire to soften the target. But late at night as the infantry advanced, we provided heavy covering fire, saturating the enemy position and their explosives. This forced them to keep their heads down,'' an artillery officer said.

A stray enemy shell killed a soldier this morning, its splinters hit an oil tanker, damaging the Signals field cable network and blocking the road. But he road. Even though the tanker was on fire and expected to explode any moment, signals soldiers kept trying to repair the damaged communication wire.

Enemy shells kept landing on peaks close to the gun positions, compelling the artillery to seek new safe locations. ``We are not changing the position, only strategically relocating the guns. Our Observation Post (OP) has given a positive report about last night's offensive and its results. The surprise element was of utmostimportance and while the enemy thought we were only focusing on the Batalik sub-sector, we launched the Kaksar offensive,'' another officer said.

Meanwhile, in mopping-up operations on Peak 4700, the Army recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition, and also advanced radio communication equipment. Peak 4700 was suspected to be the Pak Army's area operational headquarters.

Soldiers of the 18 Garhwal Rifles today recovered one anti-aircraft gun, one spare barrel, four Universal Machine Guns (UMGs), several rocket-propelled grenades, 16 rifles, several AK 56s, gelatin sticks, mines and a huge quantity of spare ammunition.

55 Pak casualties