JAMMU, May 17: India, in one of its most intense military crackdowns, has killed around 60 militants in the southern mountains of occupied Kashmir, official sources said on Saturday.

Russian-built MI-17 helicopters have backed the operations in the forbidding mountains of Surankot, along the Line of Control (LoC), which began last month, Indian defence ministry sources said.

The Times of India newspaper said the crackdown began on April 22, with the killing of 13 militants. Helicopter gunships were later pressed into action to minimize military casualties.

Highly-placed military sources in New Delhi said the airborne operations were not made public because of their international ramifications.

“This is not the first time (helicopters) have been used, but aircraft deployments tend to escalate international tensions,” said one official.

In occupied Jammu, Indian military officials said troops were pursuing what he cal-led militants from Pakistan in the rugged alpine forests of the districts of Rajouri and Poonch, where Surankot is located.

A source in Surankot, some 250 kilometres west of Jam-mu, said militants were camp-ing on the Hill Kaka mountain belt.

“Although these helicopters are fitted with machineguns and rocket pods, our soldiers are under strict instruction not to resort to aerial firing which may result in the loss of civilian lives,” one source said.

“Once these mountain belts are free of civilians we can carry out blasting terrorist hideouts with high-grade explosives.”

The held state’s government has, however, rejected appeals from the Indian army to evacuate civilians from the region, officials said.

The Hill Kaka range is gentler than other Himalayan peaks, but thick forests and hellish mountain passes turn it into an impregnable fortress for forces holding the top.

The Times of India also reported the seizure of huge amount of arms from Hill Kaka, which India believes to be a stronghold of the Lash-kar-i-Taiba and Jaish-i-Mohammad.

The crackdown began three days after Indian Premier Atal Behari Vajpayee on April 18 extended a “hand of friendship” to Pakistan, prompting a series of peace initiatives between the two countries. —AFP