Terrorists attack army truck in J&K, 4 soldiers, 1 policeman killed | India News – Times of India

JAMMU: Four soldiers, including a junior commissioned officer (JCO), and a police officer of J&K were killed on Monday in a terrorist ambush on a military patrol vehicle in the remote village of Badnota in Kathua district. Six other soldiers were injured in the attackmarking a month of increasing terror-related violence in the Jammu region, beginning with four attacks on June 9, 11 and 12.
The ambush pattern resembled previous attacks on military convoys in Jammu, including an ambush on two IAF vehicles on May 4 in Poonch district that resulted in the death of Corporal Vikky Pahade. Last year, similar attacks in Poonch and Rajouri districts on December 21 and November 22 claimed the lives of nine soldiers, including two captains.
Monday’s ambush is the second major terrorist attack in Kathua this year, following a June 11 shootout in Seda Sohal village in Hiranagar in which a CRPF constable and two suspected Pakistanis were killed. terrorists dead.
According to a security source, the attack took place around 3.30 pm on the Machedi-Kindli-Malhar road near Badnota in Lohai Malhar, about 120 km from the district headquarters of Kathua and 230 km from Jammu city. “An army truck was on routine patrol when it was attacked with grenades and heavy gunfire,” the source said.
The injured men were taken to a sub-district hospital in Billawer while two soldiers were taken to a military hospital with critical bullet wounds. The names of the slain soldiers were not released until the time of filing this report.
After the ambush, the terrorists fled to nearby forests. Reinforcements have been sent and a search operation is underway for the attackers, believed to be three heavily armed men who recently entered the Jammu region from Pakistan. Officials said the route used by the terrorists was likely a hinterland conduit from across the border.
Combined teams of the Army, J&K Police and paramilitary are hunting the terrorists in the dense jungle and mountainous terrain.