4 soldiers die, 3 injured as terrorists attack two army vehicles in Rajouri

Four soldiers were killed and three injured when heavily armed terrorists attacked two army vehicles in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday evening, people familiar with the matter said.

The vehicles, carrying personnel to the site of an overnight cordon-and-search operation, came under attack at Dhatyar Morh at about 3.45pm on Thursday.

A defence spokesperson said a search operation was launched in the general area of Dhera Ki Gali (DKG) in Poonch district on Wednesday night based on “hard intelligence” about the presence of terrorists and an encounter ensued there.

As additional forces were moving to the site, the terrorists fired at an army truck and a Gypsy killing four soldiers and seriously injuring three others, officials said. “The fire was immediately retaliated upon by own troops,” Jammu-based defence spokesperson Lt Col Suneel Bartwal said.

“In the ongoing operation, own troops sustained 3 Fatal and 3 non fatal casualties,” the spokesperson said.

People familiar with the matter said ambulances besides reinforcements of 48 RR and 43 RR have been rushed to the site. “Public movement in the area has been restricted,” an intelligence officer said. Reinforcements were also rushed and a massive anti-terrorist operation was launched.

The stretch between Dhera Ki Gali and Bufliaz, the site of the attack on Thursday, is densely forested and leads to Chamrer and Bhata Dhurian forests, where five soldiers were killed in an ambush on an Army vehicle on April 20 this year.

In May, five more Army personnel were killed and a major-rank officer was injured in Chamrer forest during an anti-terrorist operation. A foreign terrorist was also killed in the operation.

Five army men including two officers died in an intense gunfight with heavily armed Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists in the dense jungles of Kalakote in Rajouri.