Militants entered by crossing unfenced rivulet on border Eyewitnesses reveal how gunmen moved around in Army camp GK NEWS NETWORK Jammu, Sep 27: The three militants, who carried out the audacious attacks in Jammu Thursday, had entered this side of the border by crossing a rivulet which is unfenced. Quoting Defence sources, a wire service reported that security forces have not found any breach of the border fencing and it was being presumed that the militants managed their entry through unfenced part of the Indo-Pak border. According to a preliminary report, the heavily armed militants crossed the Chhappri rivulet and reached a graveyard in Jhandi village, close to International Border (IB), before carrying out the attacks yesterday. The IB in the area is completely fenced and after inspection the security forces found no breach in the barbed wire fencing, unnamed Home Ministry officials were quoted as having said. Besides, it is impossible for anyone to cross over the fence and hence the only path the militants could have taken to come was by crossing Chhappri rivulet, they said. The security forces were almost certain that the three militants were Pakistanis as they had little knowledge about the geography of the area, sources said. However, the Defence spokesman in Jammu said that the identification and affiliation of the slain militants was being ascertained. Quoting unnamed eyewitnesses and sources, another news agency claimed that Para Commandos were brought in after the militants stormed the army camp on the outskirts of Samba township. Eye-witnesses said the militants sneaked into 16 Cavalry regiment camp at around 7.30 a.m. “They had a verbal altercation with the guard at the gate who obviously thought the militants were army jawans since they wore army uniforms and were clean shaven. After the guard refused to allow them entry, they shot the guard from close range but this gunshot was not heard by others inside the camp.” “The three militants entered the camp, passed the offices of the cavalry’s colonel, adjutant and subedar major and started moving towards the officers’ mess situated some distance from the offices.” Lt. Col. Bikramjeet Singh was “moving in the lawn outside the mess when he saw the militants in army uniforms approach him. Before he could ascertain their identity, they shot him from close range and the officer died on the spot.” Mess-keeper Kiran Kumar Reddy had gone inside the mess to get some breakfast for the officer. “When he came out and saw that the officer had been shot, he tried to withdraw into the mess building, but was shot. Despite being critically shot, Reddy crawled to alert Colonel Avin Adhiya who was also outside the mess building when the first two shootouts occurred,” the unnamed eye- witness were quoted as having said. On seeing Reddy crawl towards him, Colonel Adhiya took out his weapon and started engaging the militants. But he was shot in the shoulder. He fired and at the same time ensured that a tank inside the camp was driven to safety. By this time, troopers inside the camp knew it was a fidayeen strike. Since 16 cavalry armoured unit comes under 9 Corps headquarters of the Western Command, the troopers alerted their chain of command about the strike. Quoting Defence sources, the news agency further reported that the Western Command authorities immediately got in touch with the Northern Command headquarters in Udhampur town of Jammu region. Authorities moved commandos of 9 Para regiment in helicopters to the shootout site. The Para commandos first carried out an aerial reconnaissance of the camp before landing there to neutralize the three militants. “The Para commandos had identified the exact spot during the aerial recce from where the militants were returning the army fire. After landing, the commandos started engaging the militants in a direct gunfight, but in order to give them an impression that their exact spot of hiding had still not been identified, an abandoned building inside the camp was blasted. “This made the militants complacent that their hiding spot had not been yet pin- pointed. They kept on intermittently returning the army fire till all three of them were killed,” the Defence sources said.
Posted on: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 04:08:29 +0000
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