New Delhi: The two militants killed in an encounter with security forces in Jammu on Friday attacked the personnel with “heavy fire” during the crucial early morning shift-change time of CISF men at a checkpost, officials said.
The “fidayeen” or suicide bombers sprayed a volley of bullets in a “burst-fire” mode from their assault weapons and lobbed grenades at the security personnel at the picket deployed near the Chaddha camp in the Sunjwan area of the district, where the Army also has a large installation.
“The CISF men present on the spot undertook an immediate action and retaliated the attack, due to which the terrorists could not reach the main cordon of the security forces that was present in the area.
“Had they succeeded and were not forced to take shelter in a nearby residential area, the casualty among the forces could have been much more,” CISF Deputy Inspector General (DIG) for operations and chief spokesperson Anil Pandey said.
The two militants were killed in the ensuing encounter with the security forces.
Another officer said a team of 15 Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel onboard a static private bus was just about to take charge from those who were finishing their night duty when the attack took place around 4:25 am.
The bus driver ran away after the militants launched heavy gunfire and lobbed grenades even as the security personnel quickly took position and retaliated, he said.
A cordon-and-search operation is being carried out in the area for the last two-three days and the CISF team was part of it on Friday.
“We had inputs that two-three ‘fidayeen’ attackers of the Jaish-e-Mohammed could be lurking around in the area,” the second officer quoted above said.
CISF Assistant Sub-Inspector S P Patel (58) was also killed in the attack, while six other personnel of the paramilitary force and a few others were injured.
Patel hailed from Satna district of Madhya Pradesh.
The CISF has deployed 13 companies or about 1,200 personnel on internal security duties in Jammu and Kashmir and those who came under the attack belong to company number 757 based in Bhilai in Chhattisgarh, a third officer said.
The attack came two days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Samba in the Jammu region of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
This will be Modi’s first visit to Jammu and Kashmir, other than border areas, since the abrogation of the special status of the erstwhile state and its bifurcation in August 2019. PTI

Press Trust of India