Even as a team from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) rushed to the spot to start a probe into Thursday's terror attack, additional forces were deployed to launch a massive cordon and search operation in the forest in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, where terrorists ambushed two Army vehicles.
Four soldiers of the Army lost their lives in the line of duty while two others were critically injured in one more terror attack in the twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri this year.
Reports said that a massive cordon and search operation began this morning after a night cordon in the area, and the same was going on until the filing of this report.
An aerial monitoring operation using helicopters is also being conducted, and sniffer dogs have been pressed into service to track down the terrorists who ambushed two Army vehicles in the area Thursday afternoon.
#IndianArmy and #Whiteknight Corps salutes the bravery and supreme sacrifice of four soldiers in #Surankote on 21 Dec 23 while fighting the scourge of terrorism@adgpi @NorthernComd_IA
— White Knight Corps (@Whiteknight_IA) December 22, 2023
The General Officer Commanding (GoC), XVI Corps, Lt Gen Sandeep Jain visited Ground Zero and reviewed the situation with top army and police officers, officials said.
"Indian Army and White Knight Corps salute the bravery and supreme sacrifice of four soldiers in Surankote yesterday while fighting the scourge of terrorism", White Knight Corps, or XVI Corps, wrote on X.
Four soldiers lost their lives in Thursday's terror attack
Four Army soldiers lost their lives and two others were injured in an encounter with the terrorists at Dhatyar Morh between Dera Ki Gali and Bufliaz falling under the jurisdiction of Surankote police station in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday evening.
The terrorists, whose number is believed to be between three and four, had taken positions atop the hill from where they targeted the Army vehicles, which had to slow down their speed at the blind curve and bumpy road. The terrorists seemed to have carried out a reconnaissance of the area and chose the spot where there were pits and mountains surrounding the spot.
Terrorists badly mutilate the bodies of two soldiers and snatch weapons
As per reports, two Army vehicles carrying personnel to the site of a cordon-and-search operation came under attack at a blind curve at Dhatyar Morh between Dhera Ki Gali and Bufliaz under the jurisdiction of the Surankote police station in Poonch district.
After the attack, they reportedly mutilated the bodies of at least two soldiers and have taken weapons from some of them, officials say. The security officials say that an investigation of the site is being carried out to determine the pattern and use of weapons, including steel-core bullets, in the ambush.
Four soldiers have been identified as Naik Birendra Singh, Naik Driver Karan Kumar, Rifleman Chandan Kumar, and Rifleman Gautam Kumar.
21 soldiers lost their lives in four terror attacks in the last 26 months in Poonch
This is the fourth major terrorist attack in Poonch in 26 months. Since 2021, 21 soldiers have been sacrificed in these four incidents.
- 11 October 2021: Terrorists ambushed a team of the Army conducting a search operation in the Chamraid area of Poonch. Five soldiers including one JCO sacrificed their lives in the attack.
- 20 October 2021: Six soldiers lost their lives in a terror attack during a search operation in Bhataduriyan. The search operation was carried out by closing the Jammu-Poonch highway for one and a half months.
- 20 April 2023: Terrorists first threw grenades and then started firing on an Army vehicle in Bhataduriyanin Poonch district. Five soldiers sacrificed their lives.
- 21 December 2023: Five soldiers lost their lives and two others were injured in a terror attack in Dhera-Ki-Gali
