JOIN US3 Armymen among ten killed in J&K attack
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif exchanged pleasantries at the Saarc summit in Kathmandu, 10 people, including three soldiers and three civilians, were killed in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu & Kashmir in recent years.
Sources told Deccan Herald that four to five heavily armed militants dressed in army fatigues entered a reportedly abandoned Army bunker near Arnia, 2.5 km from the International Border with Pakistan, in R S Pura sector of Jammu on Wednesday night.
“Some villagers in the morning reported militant movement in the area to security forces who cordoned off the area and launched a combing operation. At around 8 am before troops could get to the militants, they fired indiscriminately in which three soldiers, including a junior commissioned officer were killed,” they said.
An Army official said that in the retaliatory fire three militants were killed. “One to two militants managed to take shelter in a neighbouring house and they fired indiscriminately on soldiers and civilians. Three civilians were killed in the firing, while one of the militants was killed in the retaliatory action by the troops,” he said.
The encounter ended at around 4 pm, the official added. A Border Security Force (BSF) official said the militants did not infiltrate from the Pakistani side of the border.
“They came in a car to Arnia last night and had taken shelter in an abandoned Army bunker. In the morning they targeted the Army,” he said. The car, which was used by the militants, has been seized.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah confirmed the death of 10 people in the encounter. “Three civilians have lost their lives along with three Army personnel, my condolences to the families. Four militants have been neutralised in Arnia,” Omar tweeted.
“Some things will never change, Saarc summit is on, Ind ia and Pakistan prime ministers at the same venue and a fierce encounter breaks out in Jammu (sic),” Omar added.
The incident occurred just a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to campaign for the BJP for the second phase of Assembly elections in Udhampur and Poonch districts.
Modi will address a rally in Udhampur district, which is 100 km from Arnia.
In September, nine people, including an Army officer, were killed in a Fidayeen attack on a police station and an Army camp in Jammu region, a day after the leaders of India and Pakistan had agreed to meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
On October 6, five civilians were killed and dozens injured in firing and shelling from Pakistan on Arnia and its adjoining areas.
Inspector General of Police Jammu, Rajesh Kumar, said an alert has been sounded in all the districts of the region, particularly those which lie on the Jammu-Srinagar Highway.
DH News Service