Months after the Indian Army carried out surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), new terror training camps and launchpads have emerged across the Line of Control (LoC) over the past few months while the ones which had shifted back in the wake of Indian Army's retaliatory action in September last year, have come back closer to the LoC.
According to a Times of India report, there are now an estimated 55 camps of various Pakistan-backed terrorist outfits operational in PoK. Of these, 35 camps were dismantled and shifted deep inside PoK, with some inside Pakistan Army’s base camps.
While those are now back at their original location, around 20 new camps have come up alongside.
The report cited sources in the central agencies saying that 60 infiltration attempts were reported in the first four months of 2017, in which 15 terrorists managed to enter into Jammu and Kashmir.
Days ago, Lt Gen J S Sandhu, Commander of Srinagar-based 15 Corps, had said that about 150 militants are waiting near the LoC on PoK to sneak into the Valley. He said that there would be more militants at the launching pads in PoK in the areas facing Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu province.
According to the report, the level of recruitment of local youth by militant outfits is around the same level as last year, with around 100 having joined their ranks over the past few months.
In September last year, after the surgical strikes, it was reported that there are about 50 terror camps running in PoK, which are being operated by outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Hizbul Mujahideen.
