Flames And Arrows
Page 28
0357 Hours
2 November 2012
70 Km South East of Gilgit, POK
Two figures atop the mountain waited anxiously for the planes to appear. Without turning his head from the sky that he was scanning with his binoculars one of the men said, “Wish the birds were here already.”
His companion who was manning the laser designator just grunted something unintelligible.
“What?” first man asked?
The reply was drowned by the ear splitting thunder as two Jaguars flying a few meters above the peaks passed overhead and dropped two Sudarshan laser guided bombs each on both mouths of the tunnel. Guided by the laser spot, all four bombs found their mark and exploded with loud noise. Every person nearby felt the earth shaking as the powerful explosives tore through the tunnel entrances. The explosions caused a large volume of rocks and concrete used in the construction of tunnel to collapse on the tunnel entrance and blocked it completely from both sides.
“That's what I was talking about.” First man shouted exultantly.
“I can't hear you. I think I've gone deaf.” Other man replied rubbing his ears.
“You are a whining bitch.”
“Shut the fuck up or I shove this MANPADS up yours.”
“Hah! You heard THAT all right.”
“Shh...can you hear that? “
Both men stopped their banter and looked upwards. A distant noise of jet engines was coming closer and closer. “Looks like the PARA guys are here.”
Picking up his binocular he looked up to the sky and sure enough he could see the outline of a C -130J Hercules transporter getting closer every second. It was supplemented by small dark specks that grew larger and larger into parachutes.
Within minutes the area was swarming with Indian PARA soldiers. Except three soldiers who received injuries while landing on the rough terrain, everybody else landed safely. The soldiers rapidly converged on both sides of the tunnel and took positions. Leader of the PARAS, a veteran Lt. Colonel Megh Singh contacted the Stalkers on radio, “Stalker Alpha, Jumper 1 and Jumper 2 are in position. What's the status of that bridge? We don't want any Chinese arriving with reinforcements before we are finished with the ones inside the tunnel.”
“Jumper 1, the bridge has been destroyed and all Chinese personnel within a two KM radius neutralized.”
“Thanks for the help Stalkers.” Lt. Colonel Megh replied and turned to his soldiers. “All right men, time for action.”