NEW DELHI, July 9 (UPI) -- Indian troops have installed Israeli sensors and thermal imagers on the Kashmir border with Pakistan in a bid to monitor the movements of armed Islamic guerillas, Indian army officials said.
The Press Trust of India reported Tuesday the handheld thermal imagers could see three miles across the border during night, can track body heat emissions and differentiate between human beings and animals.
The thermal imagers are being used at Kupwara, Gurez, Uri, Poonch, Bhimbar gali, Mendhar, Rajouri and in the plains of Jammu area to contain infiltration from across the line of control separating the two countries.
India blames Pakistan for arming and training Islamic guerrillas, a charge Islamabad denies. Officials estimate more than 36,000 people have been killed in the fighting in the Kashmir region, while rebels put the death toll at 80,000.
Indian officials are in negotiations with the United States to import more electronic sensors to be installed along the 400-mile border. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last month offered to supply New Delhi with the sensors.
Pakistan has rejected India's proposal for joint patrolling of the line of control.
"Pakistan's claim that there is no infiltration is correct. We reject any such allegation," said Islamabad's Foreign Ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmad Khan.
"We are ready to take any challenge (on verification) from anyone," he said.
Washington has been trying to broker peace between the two nuclear rivals, who have been for the over six months.
Kashmir is the main stumbling block between the two arch foes. India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over the troubled Himalayan region.
Islamabad denies supporting Kashmiri rebels but justifies their efforts as a just struggle to gain freedom from predominantly Hindu India.
