Srinagar: Five soldiers were killed and another was critically injured in what appears to be a carefully-scripted ambush by terrorists who targeted an Army vehicle on Thursday, April 20, in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.The attack is likely to cloud the preparations for a G-20 event which is scheduled to be held in J&K’s capital Srinagar on May 22-23 and also the visit of Pakistan’s foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto to Goa later this year in connection with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.Army Chief Manoj Pande briefed Union defence minister Rajnath Singh about the attack on Thursday evening, the deadliest on a moving vehicle of security forces in J&K since the 2019 Pulwama suicide bombing, while a team of the National Investigation Agency is on the way to assist the Jammu and Kashmir Police in its probe.Initial reports indicated that the ill-fated Army vehicle had caught fire, possibly due to a lightning strike, but sources said it was only when security forces arrived at the spot in Bhatta Durrian of Poonch and found the vehicle pockmarked by bullet holes that it was declared as a terror attack.The attack is the first of its kind in the union territory in many years wherein a moving Army vehicle ferrying soldiers of the battle-hardened Rashtriya Rifles, who are specially trained in counter-insurgency operations, was ambushed by terrorists.Sources said a group of three to four terrorists are believed to have carried out the attack. Several dozen rounds of bullets have been fired on the vehicle which was also ferrying ration to the nearby Army camp when the attack took place, according to a report. The use of a sticky bomb to trigger the blaze has not been ruled out.“Bullets seemingly rained on the vehicle from all the sides, leaving the trapped soldiers with no chance to retaliate, even as the attackers managed to escape apparently without suffering any damage or casualties,” sources said, adding that such attacks have been reported in Naxalism-affected areas of the country and North East.The Peoples Anti-Fascist Force (PAFF), which is believed to be an offshoot of the proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit based in Pakistan, has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to celebratory messages posted on social media. The J&K Police have not yet verified the claims. The PAFF was declared as a terrorist organisation under the anti-terror law by the Union government in January this year.In a statement, the Army’s strategic Northern Command spokesperson based in Jammu said that the ill-fated Army truck was moving between Bhimber Gali, which is located in the Rajouri sector, and Poonch when unidentified terrorists took “advantage of heavy rains and low visibility in the area” and opened fire.“The vehicle caught fire, due to likely use of grenades by terrorists. Five personnel of the Rashtriya Rifles Unit deployed for Counter Terrorist operations, in this area, have unfortunately lost their lives in the incident. Another seriously injured soldier was evacuated immediately to the Army Hospital at Rajauri and is under treatment. Operations are in progress to locate the perpetrators. Further details are being ascertained,” the spokesperson said.The deceased have been identified as Debashish Baswal and Kulwant Singh, both Lance Naiks, Sepoys Harkrishan Singh and Sewak Singh, and Hawaldar Mandeep Singh.A senior J&K Police officer said that the attack took place in an area along the Line of Control with dense foliage and forest cover where the visibility is low and the chances of terrorists escaping without resistance after the attack are high due to the hilly nature of the terrain.Four Army soldiers, including a Junior Commissioned Officer, were killed in the same area in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch on October 16, 2021 by two suspected foreign terrorists, five days after the same group of terrorists had gunned down five Army soldiers in Chamrer forests of Poonch. Following the twin attacks, the area saw one of the longest anti-terror operations, but it was called off without any success.A 25-second video shot moments after the latest attack circulated on social media which shows the ill-fated truck engulfed in roaring flames with its fuel tank ripped apart, apparently due to the impact of the explosion after catching fire due to firing. A semi-charred body of one soldier can be seen lying on the road while security personnel and locals struggle to douse the flames.The attack took place in the volatile Rajouri-Poonch belt along the Line of Control which has recorded an uptick in militancy in recent months and it once again underlines the emergence of Jammu division, which was largely unscathed by the violence in Kashmir over the past three decades, as the new epicentre of militancy.In August last year, a suicide attack in Darhal area of adjoining Rajouri district, believed to be carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammad, resulted in the killing of five Army soldiers while two terrorists involved in the attack were also gunned down later.On January 1 this year, unidentified terrorists carried out a similarly brutal attack in Dhangri village of Rajouri in which seven civilians, including two minors, were killed. The perpetrators of the attack continue to remain at large with officials suspecting that they might have taken refuge in the dense forests along the LoC in the region.While security agencies are probing whether a fresh group of terrorists has infiltrated along the Line of Control into J&K recently to carry out the latest attack in Poonch, the involvement of Dhangri attackers has not been ruled out so far.The attack in Poonch evoked condemnation from J&K’s Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, former J&K chief ministers Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and Ghulam Nabi Azad, and other political leaders in the Union Territory.
