Two subedars of the Army were killed while six others—including a colonel and the daughter of one of slain subedars—were injured after a group of Jaish-e-Muhammad fidayeen stormed an Army camp at Sunjwan in Jammu early on Saturday.
The fidayeen entered the camp from its rear side at 4.10am and started firing indiscriminately.
In the initial attack, Subedar Madan Lal Chowdhry, his daughter, Neha, and Lance Naik Bahadur Singh were injured.
The Army responded to the attack quickly and restricted the attackers' movement. In the ensuing encounter, Subedar Muhammad Ashraf Mir, Colonel Rohit Solanki, who is commanding officer of 6 Mahar, and Havildar Abdul Hamid were injured.
Lal and Mir succumbed to their injuries. The Army cordoned off the area and called for reinforcements.
The camp under attack also houses residential quarters and great effort was made by the Army to rescue the families of the soldiers.
The attack on the camp was first reported by a woman who called the police control room and said around five fidayeen had attacked the camp and sought help. She also said that her husband was seriously injured in the attack and needed immediate evacuation.
A defence spokesman in a statement said in the early hours after a brief exchange of fire with the sentry on the periphery, some terrorists entered the accommodation complex in Sunjwan military camp.
He said the quick response team had cordoned off the area and isolated the terrorists who were holed up in a few houses.
Due to the presence of women and children in the housing colony, the operation was being carried out cautiously to minimise the casualties.
The attack on the Sunjwan camp came amid intelligence reports about a possible suicide attack by Jaish militants to mark the fifth death anniversary of Parliament attack convict Muhammad Afzal Guru, who was hanged on February 9, 2013.
This is also the second attack on the Sunjwan camp after 15 years. Nearly a dozen soldiers were killed when militants attacked the camp in 2003.
Saturday's attack comes 13 months after militants barged into the Army camp at Nagrota on the outskirts of Jammu.
The Jaish militants, it seems, selected their target carefully as the security forces were anticipating an attack on a security camp in the Kashmir valley.
Due to the attack on the Army camp, the Speaker of the state Assembly, Kavinder Gupta, adjourned the session for 15 minutes.
Gupta attributed the Saturday attack to illegal immigrants, and alleged Rohingya refugees or Bangladeshis were involved.
BJP legislators raised anti-Pakistan slogans in the Assembly after the Assembly was informed about the attack.
Shockingly, Akbar Lone of National Conference raised pro-Pakistan slogans, which have been widely condemned by many including his own party leaders.