J&K: Senior CRPF, Army officers visit Poonch attack site

Poonch (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], April 22 (ANI): Senior Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officers and senior Army officers on Saturday visited Bhimber Gali in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch where five soldiers were killed in a terror attack on a military vehicle.

Earlier on Friday, the Indian Army launched a massive operation to hunt down a group of around six to seven terrorists who are behind this attack.
“The Army and security agencies have received inputs about the presence of 6-7 terrorists operating in two groups in the Rajouri-Poonch sector near the area where the incident took place yesterday,” defence sources told ANI.

Sources said that this group was involved in the ambush of the Indian Army vehicle yesterday in the Poonch sector where five soldiers were killed.

As a follow up the Indian Army has launched multiple operations to nab the terror group.

“Multiple special forces teams along with drones and surveillance helicopters have been rushed to the area to help carry out search and destroy ops there,” the sources said.

The security forces including the Army, Police and Intelligence Agencies are coordinating the operations.

As per the sources, the terrorists are suspected to be from the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and from Pakistan.

The deceased soldiers identified as havildar Mandeep Singh, lance naik Debashish Baswal, lance naik Kulwant Singh, sepoy Harkrishan Singh and Sepoy Sewak Singh were attached with the army’s Rashtriya Rifles unit and were deployed for counterterrorist operations in the area.

The incident occurred after an Army vehicle they were travelling in was fired upon by terrorists in the Rajouri sector in Jammu leading to the death of five soldiers, and injuring another. Operations were launched to trace the perpetrators, but so far there was no clarity yet on the attackers.

“The unidentified attackers took advantage of heavy rains and low visibility in the area,” the Army had said on Thursday in a statement, adding the army truck caught fire due to a likely grenade attack.

The Army vehicle was moving from Bhimber Gali to Sangiot in the Poonch district.