Twin ‘fidayeen’ attacks in Jammu, Army ‘s Lt.Colonel among 10 killed ‘Shohada Brigade’ claims responsibility for the attack JAMMU, Sep 26: Dressed in army fatigues, suspected militants stormed a police station and then an army camp in Jammu region killing 10 people including a lieutenant Colonel of army in twin ‘fidayeen’ attacks after they sneaked in from across the border early Thursday, barely three days ahead of a meeting between Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan.Meanwhil militant outfit ‘Shohada Brigade’ claimed responsibility for the attack. The three heavily armed militants who were holed up in the camp of the cavalry armoured unit at Samba for several hours after they barged into the Officers mess, have been killed during a fierce gunfight, Army officials said in Delhi. The bodies of the three militants aged between 16 and 19 are in the custody of the Army, they said. In the worst attack on a security establishment in Jammu region in 10 years, officials said six people including four policemen were killed in the ‘fidayeen’(suicide) strike on the police station in Hiranagar in Kathua close to International Border(IB) by the attackers while four army troopers including a Lieutenant Colonel died at Samba camp. “As per preliminary information, the four militants came from across the border,” Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told reporters in Delhi. A police official said it was a case of “fresh infiltration” and the militants crossed the International Border most probably in the wee hours of Thursday. Lt Col Bikramjeet Singh, the second-in-command of the unit stationed at the camp, was among the four slain Army troopers. The unit’s Commanding Officer (CO) Col A Uthaiah, who was among the three injured at the Army Camp, has been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit(ICU) at a hospital in Pathankot. A militant outfit ‘Shohada Brigade’ has claimed responsibility for the attack. “We carried out the attacks in Kathua and Samba in Jammu region,” a person who identified himself as Sami-ul-Haq, the spokesperson of the outfit, was quoted as saying over phone by local vernacular news agency KNS. He claimed they were locals. DGP Ashok Prasad said the militants had boarded an auto at gun point from Hariya Chuk graveyard in village Jhandi, barely one km from the International Border and asked the driver Roshan Lal to take the vehicle to an Army camp at Hiranagar. Unable to locate the camp, the militants stormed the police station at 6.45 AM hurling grenades where they killed a sentry at the gate and then an ASI Ratan Singh and a Special Police Officer. A constable, who was resting on the second floor of the police station, was also gunned down in the indiscriminate firing, Police said. The auto driver, who managed to escape after dropping the attackers at the police station, informed the police that they had also gunned down a PCO owner Suresh before hijacking a tempo truck which had been seized by the police the previous night. The tempo driver was asked to be taken to a nearby Army camp at Samba–about 18 km from the Hiranagar police station– while the cleaner Mohammed Feroz, a resident of Kashmir Valley, was shot dead. IGP, Jammu region, Rajesh Kumar said the attackers abandoned the tempo and may have taken another vehicle from there and reached the army camp in Samba where they opened indiscriminate firing on troopers deployed at its security gate and stormed the premises. They barged into the Army Mess where they resorted to heavy indiscriminate firing as troops geared up and retaliated resulting in a fierce gunbattle. Army moved in crack commandos and quick action teams inside the camp where TV footages showed tanks moving inside in the hunt for the militants. At the army camp, gunshots were heard from inside the walled compound. Two officers were seen running out carrying an injured man over their shoulder. “I was inside the dhaba (a roadside eatery) when I saw three men entering the camp firing a barrage of bullets. They opened the gates and entered,” an unidentified man told TV channels. The traffic on the Jammu-Pathankot highway near the area of the attack at the police station was briefly suspended. The attack seen by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah as an attempt to derail the talks between the prime ministers of India and Pakistan came a day after Manmohan Singh left for the US. BJP has demanded that the talks be cancelled. The identification of all 10 persons killed in Thursday’s twin fidayee attack in Jammu region has been done, officials said. Four persons killed in attack on Samba Army camp of 16 Army Cavalry unit have been identified as Second-in-Command of the unit Lt Col Bikramjeet Singh, sepoy Kiran Kumar Reddy, sepoy M S Rao and sepoy Daya Singh. The injured have been identified as commanding officer of the unit, Col Avin Achien and Sepoy Inder Singh, a defence spokesman said. Six persons killed in attack on a police station in Hiranagar of Kathua district have been identified as ASI Rattan Singh, selection grade constable Kuldeep Singh, constable Shiv Kumar, special police officer Mukesh Kumar, and shopkeepers Suresh Kumar and Firdous Ahmed, police officials said. Those injured in the attack include ASI Ganga Ram, constable Rattan Chand and auto-rickshaw driver Roshan Lal, they added
Posted on: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 17:35:45 +0000