SRINAGAR/JAMMU:
Five soldiers of the Army’s Rashtriya Rifles were killed and a colleague was gravely wounded after terrorists ambushed their truck around 3pm Thursday with gunshots and grenades that ignited the vehicle when it was winding through blinding rain in Bhata Dhurian on a thickly-forested mountain ridge in Poonch district of J&K’s Jammu division.
The truck was not part of a larger convoy transporting troops and it was returning from “road opening duty”—a recce team that scans for hidden explosives or suspicious movements.
The Army’s White Knight Corps identified the slain soldiers as Lance Naiks Debashish Baswal and Kulwant Singh, Sepoys Harkrishan Singh and Sewak Singh, and Havildar Mandeep Singh.The wounded soldier has been shifted to the military hospital in Rajouri town, 42km south of Bhata Dhurian. Security forces are combing the area, which is close to the LoC, while a National Investigation Agency team is on the way to the crime scene.
According to sources, the Pakistan-backed banned outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba is suspected to be behind the attack.
The Northern Command headquarters said in a statement the terrorists took advantage of heavy rain and low visibility to ambush the truck travelling from Bhimber Gali to Sangiot, carrying soldiers of a Rashtriya Rifles unit deployed for counter-terrorist operations in the area, which is 90km from Poonch town.
Sources said terrorists brought the truck to a halt with grenades and then targeted its fuel tank with calibrated fire, setting off a massive blaze. Such attacks were seen in the Northeast, where militants had targeted Army and paramilitary vehicles on isolated roads, the sources said.
Traffic on the Rajouri-Poonch highway has been suspended after the attack.
Residents said they heard an explosion and saw a burning Army vehicle on the road in the afternoon and initially thought it was hit by lightning and caught fire. Locals rushed to the spot and tried to douse the fire. Military and police teams also reached quickly.
Army chief Gen Manoj Pande briefed defence minister Rajnath Singh on the attack, which is the deadliest on a security convoy in J&K since the Pulwama attack of February 14, 2019, that left 40 CRPF troopers dead. The Pulwama attack followed India’s airstrike on terror training camps in Pakistan’s Balakot on February 26, ahead of the April-May Lok Sabha elections.
“Anguished by the tragedy in Poonch District (J&K), where the Indian Army has lost its brave soldiers after a truck caught fire. In this tragic hour, my thoughts are with the bereaved families,” the defence minister tweeted.
J&K lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha mourned the deaths. “Their rich service to the nation will never be forgotten. My thoughts are with the bereaved families,” he said.
The tree-lined Bhata Dhurian area has natural caves that offer good hiding places. In 2021, the area saw one of the longest counter-terrorism operations after a group of terrorists engaged a military search party in a gunfight from October 11 to 27, leaving 11 soldiers dead.
J&K has recorded 32 Army and paramilitary fatalities in terrorist attacks since the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the state into two Union territories in August 2019.
Major attacks on Army and paramilitary troops after Aug 5, 2019Oct 22, 2019: 1 Army officer killed in Nowshera sector of Rajouri
April 5, 2020: 4 Army soldiers killed along LoC in Kupwara
April 18, 2020: 3 CRPF men killed in Sopore, Baramulla
Oct 11-27, 2021: 11 Army personnel, including a JCO, killed in Poonch
April 20, 2023: 5 Army soldiers killed in Poonch
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