| Terrorists strike again in Jammu region, attack Army camp; 2 killed | | |  Early Times Report
Jammu/new delhi, Mar 21: Terror struck again for the second time in as many days in Jammu and Kashmir when two militants opened fire at an Army camp on Jammu-Pathankot highway in Samba district on Saturday and were killed in the counter attack.
The militants opened fired and lobbed grenades at an Army camp in Meshwara area of Samba around 5:50am, security officials said.
Defence minister Manohar Parrikar said in Delhi that two terrorists have been killed in the operation.
The two back to back terror attacks in Jammu is an attempt by the militants to boost their morale which has come down due to the Army operations, Manohar Parrikar said.
"When the morale of the opponents are down, they make such attempts to boost it," Parrikar said replying to questions about the attack by militants in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday.
Stating that the international border has many "nallas", he said at times it is difficult to man the area completely. The international border comes under the purview of the BSF.
A civilian, who was passing by the area, fell off his cycle during the firing and was injured, the Army said.
The Jammu-Pathankot highway has been closed and state school examinations in the Samba district have been called off.
"We are concerned about repetition of such incidences, but security forces are giving befitting reply," Kiren Rijiju, minister of state for home affairs, said on the Samba attack.
Defence PRO Lt Col Manish Mehta said it was difficult to say whether the two militants were from the same group which had attacked a police station in Kathua on Friday.
"At 5.45am, the terrorists had opened fire and let me tell you nobody has been injured. No soldier or civilian has been injured. The individual, who has been injured, had fallen off from his cycle during the firing. It is not a bullet or a splinter injury," Mehta told reporters.
"They (attackers) were not trying to enter any unit. They have fired from outside and now they have been cordoned outside the army area," he added. Major recoveries are : 02 x AK 47 Rifles (01 with UGBL), 12 x Magazines of AK 47, 13 x Hand Grenades, 02 x UGBL Grenades, 01 x Chinese Pistol, 298 Rounds of AK 47 Rifles, 38 x Rounds of Pistol, 02 x Daggers, 01 x Floating Water Bag, 02 x Haversacks, 02 x Tiffin Box, 02 x Syringe Needles, 01 x Mobile Cord, 01 x Wrist Watch, 01 x Cello Tape Black, 02 Pair of Hand Gloves, 02 x Pencil Cell, 01 x Torch and 01 Pair of Socks.
There were no causalities to any civilian or Army personnel. The injury sustained to a civilian was not sustained from terrorist fire. The individual fell off his bicycle and sustained laceration wound to his forehead, while crossing the area of terrorist incident. A high state of vigil is being maintained to effectively deal with any security challenge in the region.
Brigadier RS Rana on Saturday said the possibility of the presence of terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir 's Samba district cannot be ruled out, adding it appears that those responsible for today's terror attack came from Pakistan.
"We cannot rule out the presence of terrorists in the area. No identify has been established till now. Looks like they wanted to barge into the cantonment but because of the security alerts they could not. Looks like they have come from Pakistan," said Brigadier Rana.
This is the second such terror attack in Jammu in as many days.
Two heavily-armed terrorists, posing as soldiers in Army fatigues, stormed a police station and killed three people before they were gunned down at Rajbagh in Jammu & Kashmir's Kathua district on Friday.
Friday's terror attack was the first since the People's Democratic Party-BJP coalition government was formed in the state earlier this month.
It was the second terror strike near Jammu in a year. Earlier, 10 people, including three soldiers and as many civilians, were killed when four terrorists attacked an Army bunker at Arnia along the India-Pakistan border in Jammu in November.
This came eight months after three people, including a soldier, were killed in separate terror attacks at Dayalachak and Janglote in Kathua in March 2014.
The fresh Kathua attack rocked the Jammu & Kashmir assembly, where the opposition members sought explanation from the government. |
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