Five soldiers injured in terror attack ahead of LS polls in J&K’s Poonch

Three weeks ahead of elections in Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency, terrorists ambushed two security vehicles, including one of the Indian Air Force (IAF), in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, injuring five soldiers, officials said .

Poonch is part of the Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency, which goes to polls in the sixth phase on May 25.

The border district of Poonch and adjoining Rajouri have witnessed some of the major terrorist attacks in the last two years, signaling a return of terror activities to the region, which was once free from terrorism and remained peaceful between 2003 and 2021.

The officials said five security personnel were injured, two of them seriously, when terrorists opened fire on two vehicles, including one of the IAF, near Shashidhar in the evening.

“An Indian Air Force vehicle convoy was attacked by militants in Poonch district of JK, near Shahsitar. Cordon and search operations are currently underway in the area by local military units. The convoy has been secured and further investigation is underway. ” the IAF said in a message on

The vehicles headed towards nearby Sanai Top in the Surankote area of ​​the district, they said, suspecting the involvement of the same group of terrorists who carried out an ambush on the troops in neighboring Bufliaz on December 21 last year, killing four soldiers. lives and three others are injured.

The army truck bore the brunt of the shelling from the terrorists who were armed with AK assault rifles and are believed to have fled into nearby forests, officials said.

Army and police reinforcements have been rushed to the area and a massive search and cordon operation was launched to track down and neutralize the terrorists, they said.

Police, assisted by paramilitary forces, have been conducting searches in Poonch town since Friday following signals about the movements of suspicious persons. However, no one was arrested during the operation, officials said.

The latest incident in Pir Panjal region followed the killing of a government official Mohd Razaq, brother of an army personnel, by terrorists at Kunda Top village in Shahdra area of ​​Rajouri on April 22 and a village defense guard Mohd Sharief in Basantgarh area of ​​Udhampur on April 22. April 28.

Police have released photographs of two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists, including suspected Pakistani national Abu Hamza, involved in Razaq’s killing and announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head.

The Bufliaz ambush in December last year came weeks after a major gun battle in the Dharmsal belt of the Bajimaal forest in Rajouri that left five army personnel, including two captains, dead a month earlier.

Two terrorists, including a top LeT commander identified as Quari, were also killed during the two-day gun battle. Quari is believed to have masterminded several attacks, including the deaths of ten civilians and five army personnel in the district.

The stretch between Dhera Ki Gali and Bufliaz on the Rajouri-Poonch border is densely forested and leads to the Chamrer forest and then the Bhata Dhurian forest, where five soldiers were killed in an ambush on an army vehicle on April 20 last year.

In May last year, another five army personnel were killed and a senior officer was injured in Chamrer forest during an anti-terrorist operation. A foreign terrorist was also killed during the operation.

In 2022, five army personnel were killed when terrorists carried out a suicide attack on their camp at Pargal in the Darhal area of ​​Rajouri district. Both terrorists involved in the attack were eliminated.

In 2021, nine soldiers were killed in two separate attacks by terrorists in the forested region. While five army personnel, including a junior non-commissioned officer (JCO), were killed in Chamrer on October 11, a JCO and three soldiers were killed in a nearby forest on October 14.

First print: May 4, 2024 | 9:34 PM IST