Six people—five soldiers and one civilian—were killed in a shootout with four militants who had stormed an army camp in Jammu’s Sunjuwan on Sunday. A fourth militant was also gunned down on Sunday, bringing to an end a military operation that began when the militants had stormed the army camp in a pre-dawn strike on Saturday.
Those who were killed have been identified as Subedar Madan Lal Choudhary; Subedar Mohd Ashraf Mir; Ha. Habib-Ullah Qurashi; Naik Manzoor Ahmed; Lance Naik Mohd lqbal . A civilian, Lance Naik Iqbal’s father, also died in the operation.
A group of heavily-armed Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists struck the sprawling camp of the 36 brigade of Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry in the early hours of Saturday, triggering a gunbattle which left two Army personnel, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), dead.
Two of the attackers in combat gear were also gunned down while nine people—a Major, three personnel and five women and children—were injured in the day-long operation.
Condition of the Major and another personnel was stated to be “critical”.
“The operation is on and the evacuation (of people from the family quarters) is in progress,” Jammu-based Army PRO Lt Col Devender Anand said.
He said a number of families are still there and the Army’s aim was to ensure their safety.
“There was no firing since last night,” the officer said, adding that bodies of only two terrorists were recovered from the encounter site.
The latest attack on the camp took place nearly 15 months after the Jammu region was hit by a similar attack. On November 29, 2016, terrorists had stormed the Army’s Nagrota camp on the outskirts of Jammu city, killing seven Army personnel, including two officers. Three terrorists were also gunned down.
The terrorists had struck before dawn on Saturday and managed to sneak into the camp from the rear side of the base after a brief exchange of fire with the sentry on its periphery.
“The terrorists entered the family accommodation complex after which quick response teams cordoned off the area and isolated the terrorists, who are holed up in a few houses (inside the camp),” officials said.
While there was no action around the main entrance and vehicles were moving along the Jammu-Lakhanpur bypass in front of the camp, Army personnel in bullet-proof vehicles engaged in the operation to rescue people from the family quarters in the rear side of the base.
Contingents of CRPF and police were posted outside the boundary wall and were keeping curious onlookers at bay to avoid civilian casualties.
A high alert has been sounded in Jammu and security beefed up in and around the city.
Intelligence inputs had warned of an attack on an Army or security establishment by Jaish-e-Mohammed in view of the death anniversary of Afzal Guru who was hanged on February 9, 2013.
Source: Agencies
