Within hours after terrorists fired upon a convoy of vehicles carrying security personnel at Khanetar in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, security forces launched a cordon-and-search operation in the area.
The operation was going on till the filing of this report as additional forces have been deployed to track down terrorists involved in the firing.
Reports said that troops are using sniffer dogs and aerial surveillance to comb the area, which has dense forest.
On Friday evening, terrorists attacked military vehicles and opened fire in the Krishna Ghati area of Poonch district of the Jammu division.
Although there is no information about any damage, immediately after the incident, security forces surrounded the entire area and started an operation against the terrorists.
Reports said that the Commanding Officer of 39 Rashtriya Rifles was returning to his unit in the Krishna Ghat with two vehicles. As soon as their vehicles reached Darati village from the Krishna Ghati, the terrorists targeted the military vehicles and fired six to seven rounds.
Immediately after the attack, the soldiers took charge and retaliated. Immediately the soldiers surrounded the entire area.
When information about the incident was received, soldiers from the unit were sent to the spot and a search operation was conducted.
On Friday evening the Army spokesperson said that a security forces convoy of vehicles was fired upon by terrorists from a jungle near Krishna Ghati in the Poonch sector.
A senior police officer said no one was injured in the incident and the Commanding Officer and other Army personnel were safe. A search operation has been launched in the area.
Army vehicles were ambushed in Poonch on December 21
A similar ambush on Army vehicles took place in Poonch's Dhatya Morh in the Dera Ki Gali area on December 21. Four Army personnel lost their lives in the attack.
Rajouri and Poonch districts have witnessed targeted attacks by terrorists on the Army and civilians in the recent past.
Nineteen soldiers were killed in four terrorist attacks in Rajouri and Poonch in 2023.
Security forces killed more than 30 terrorists in the two districts — along the Line of Control (LoC) as well as in the hinterland — last year.
Fifth terror attack on soldiers in 27 months in Poonch
Friday was the fifth incident of attack by terrorists in Poonch in the last 27 months. So far 21 soldiers have been sacrificed in the incidents starting from 2021. Many soldiers have also been injured in these incidents.
- On October 11, 2021: Five soldiers including a JCO lost their lives in the terror attack in the Chamraid area of Poonch.
- Six soldiers lost their lives in an attack during a search operation in the Bhatadhuria area of Poonch on October 20, 2021.
- On 20 April 2023, a military vehicle was surrounded in the Bhatadhuria area, first attacked with a grenade, then fired by terrorists. Five soldiers lost their lives.
- Four soldiers lost their lives when terrorists ambushed two Army vehicles in the Dera-Ki-Gali area of Poonch district on December 21, 2023.
- On January 12, 2024, terrorists fired on the Army vehicles in Khanetar area of Poonch.
