Finally, para troops neutralise militants
Security forces neutralised one more terrorist holed up in the Sunjwan Army camp even as the toll of the army personnel killed in the attack went up to five, including two JCOs who died yesterday. One civilian too succumbed to his injuries.
A group of heavily armed men had struck the sprawling camp of the 36 brigade of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry before dawn. The seriousness of the attack can be gauged from the fact that it had taken place in the heart of the Jammu and, for the first time, the family quarters were targeted.
Among those injured were six women and children, including a pregnant woman who later delivered a baby girl through a caesarean operation. A 14-year-old boy, who has a gunshot wound in the head, is in a critical condition.
There was no reason for complacency either: The attack took place nearly 15 months after the terrorists stormed the Army's Nagrota camp on the outskirts of the city, killing seven Army personnel. Though the Sunjwan camp is well fortified in the front, the rear, for some inexplicable reason, was relatively less secure.
The militants had managed to enter the Junior Commissioned Officers quarters inside the camp while everyone was asleep. Para commandos from the Army's Udhampurheadquartered Northern Command were airlifted to flush out the militants. The Air Force provided aerial surveillance.
A National Investigation Agency team visited the Sunjwan Army camp today and examined the evidence collected by the Army from the attack site. Army chief Bipin Rawat also arrived here on Sunday to personally oversee the sanitising of the camp.
All the militants were wearing army fatigues. AK-56 rifles, an under-barrel grenade launcher, ammunition and grenades have been recovered from them. Incidentally, all the five deceased soldiers belonged to Jammu and Kashmir. They were identified as Sub Madan Lal Choudhary, Sub Mohd Ashraf Nir, Hav Habibullah Qureshi, Naik Manzoor Ahmed and Lance Naik Mohd Iqbal.
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, for the 2001 attack on Parliament House.