A day after the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district that left five Army personnel dead, a massive search operation is on in the Badnote, Kindli and Lohai Malhar areas of Kathua districts. The ground teams are aided by helicopters and UAVs, besides sniffer dogs and metal detectors.
Five army personnel, including a Junior Commissioned Officer, were killed and as many were injured on Monday when heavily armed terrorists ambushed a patrolling party in the remote Machedi area. The martyred army personnel are Rifleman Anuj Negi from Pauri, Nayab Subedar Anand Singh Rawat from Rudraprayag, Naik Vinod Singh from Tehri, Kamal Singh from Pauri and Adarsh Negi from Tehri.
The attack took place on Monday when a group of heavily armed terrorists ambushed a patrolling party in the Badnota area in Kathua.
Officials reportedly believe three to four terrorists, all foreigners, were behind the attack. Sources said the terrorists belong to the same group which launched an attack in Udhampur's Basangarh last April. The attack saw a Village Defence Guard (VDG) member killed in a gunfight with recently infiltrated terrorists.
The Udhampur Police, which investigated the incident, later made arrests. Officials also found that two groups of terrorists infiltrated from across the border into the Panara village of Basantgarh. A police and VDG team was deployed to track down the terrorists. But, one of the parties came under fire while moving towards Chochru Gala Heights and in the ensuing encounter, the VDG member laid down his life.
The security forces had in June picked up the movement of one group in the upper reaches of Bani, Daggar and Kindli areas of Kathua district and conducted search operations.
Meanwhile, the remains of the five soldiers who died in the attack have been airlifted to their home states. The post-mortem examination of the soldiers was done at the Sub District Hospital Billawar in Jammu and Kashmir.
Billawar Additional Deputy Commissioner, Vinay Khosla told reporters that eight injured soldiers were brought to the Billawar Hospital, out of which, the Army shifted six jawans to Pathankot Hospital.
