news details |
|
|
| Lt Col among 13 killed in twin suicidal attacks in Kathua, Samba | | 3 AK 56 rifles, 10 magazines, grenade launcher, 2 pistols recovered from slain militants | | Sumit Sharma
JAMMU, Sept 26: Dressed in Army outfits , terrorists stormed a police station in Hiranagar and intruded inside an Army camp in Samba, killing 10 people, including an Army officer, in twin suicidal attacks after they sneaked in from across the border early on Thursday, barely three days ahead of scheduled meeting between Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan.
Unable to locate the camp, the terrorists stormed the police station at 6.45 am hurling grenades where they killed a sentry at the gate and then an ASI Ratan Singh and a Special Police Officer. A constable, who was resting on the second floor of the police station, was also gunned down in the indiscriminate firing, Police said.
The militants then took the truck seized by police bearing registration number JK03/7810 after killing its cleaner Mohd Feroz. They asked driver of the truck namely Altaf of Srinagar to be taken to a nearby Army camp at Samba. On way they also shot at a PCO owner Suresh Kumar.
The truck was stopped outside the Army camp at Malahaser on Jammu Srinagar National Highway at Samba and the militants then opened indiscriminate firing on jawans deployed at its security gate before they stormed the premises.
They barged into the Army Mess where they resorted to heavy indiscriminate firing as troops geared up and retaliated resulting in fierce gunbattle .
Army moved in crack commandos and quick action teams inside the camp where TV footages showed tanks moving inside in the hunt for the militants.
At the Army camp, gunshots were heard from inside the walled compound. Two officers were seen running out carrying an injured man over their shoulder.
"I was inside the dhaba (a roadside eatery) when I saw three men entering the camp firing a barrage of bullets. They opened the gates and entered," an unidentified man said.
The traffic on the Jammu-Pathankot highway near the area of the attack at the police station was briefly suspended. The vehicular movement was allowed at 5.45 pm. The entire Jammu was turned into a castle as men in Khakhi and army personnel were dotted in and around the vicinity of Jammu district.
The bodies of the three terrorists aged between 16 and 19 are in the custody of the Army, they said, adding arms and ammunition including 3 AK 47 rifles, 10 magazines, 2 Chinese made pistols, one grenade launcher, 56 rounds, one knife, one binocular and 3 bags were seized from the bodies of the militants.
Lt Col Bikramjeet Singh of Chandigarh, the second-in-command of the unit stationed at the camp, was among the four slain Army personnel. The other three slain army personnel have been identified as Inder Singh, mess keeper of Rajasthan and SWR Nissala Srinivas of Andrapradesh.
The terror attack made the PHQ think over the strengthening of Special Operation Group in other districts also as inputs of the infiltration was continuously pouring in from Intelligence agencies. The SOG was to some extent strengthened in Jammu district by ADG K Rajindra Kumar only after Chinore militants. In Jammu region only three district namely Poonch, Rajouri and Jammu are manned by SOG personnel, specialized in counter terrorism.
"As per preliminary information, the four terrorists came from across the border," Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said in Delhi. A police official said it was a case of "fresh infiltration" and the terrorists crossed the IB most probably in the wee hours of Thursday".
The unit's Commanding Officer (CO) Col A Uthaiah, who was among the three injured at the Army Camp, has been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at a hospital in Pathankot.
A lesser-known militant outfit 'Shohada Brigade' claimed responsibility for the attack.
Jammu and Kashmir DGP Ashok Prasad who was on leave arrived in Jammu after having information of militant attack. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
