Inside story of Jammu terror attacks: Terrorists wanted to lay siege to Army school, truck driver foiled plan

Jammu: Three terrorists, in combat dress and heavily armed, on Thursday morning crossed the international border and reached Hiranagar village of Kathua district, which is close to the border. They stopped a load carrier (JK 08B 2430) driver Roshan Lal at Hariya Chowk, carrying vegetables to Samba and asked him to take them to the national highway. Roshan Lal , who was seriously injured, later said, the terrorists in army uniform sought info about a nearby army or CRPF camp, and when they found there was none nearby, they moved to Hiranagar police station.Roshan Lal said, he tactfully covered a long distance of at least 15 km instead of just 8 km from the IB to Hiranagar police station, but at no single point, was their vehicle intercepted by either police or army for checking.He even took the load carrier to National Highway towards Rajbagh to at least ensure that it was intercepted by police, but there was not a single policeman to be seen.At the police station, the terrorists killed four policemen and a civilian (shopkeeper), and then took over a truck parked outside. They killed the conductor and asked the driver to move on. Those killed included ASI Rattan Singh, Duty Officer, a resident of Budhi Merth, Selection Grade Constable Pardeep Singh Jamwal, a resident of Birpur, Constable Shiv Kumar of Kutta and Special Police Officer, Mukesh Kumar of Hiranagar. Two civilians gunned down by the militants included Feroz Ahmad of Kemoh, Anantnag, conductor of the truck and Suresh Kumar, a shopkeeper near Hiranagar police station and a resident of Ward No. 2, Hiranagar.Injured police personnel and civilians at Hiranagar included ASI Gangu Ram, Constable Rattan Chand, SPO Sohan Singh and a civilian auto driver Roshan Lal of Hariya Chak. All of them have been hospitalised.And now, the fedayeen had more important work to do. After killing the conductor, they asked the driver about any Army school located nearby. The terrorists were planning a siege, as dryfruits were found alongwith three AK-47 rifles, one 9 pmm pistol, 8 grenades, 320 magazins, IEDs in four bottles, and a UBGL Launcher with eight grenades were found later near the bodies. The truck driver was told by terrorists to go to the Army school, but he told them he didn't know the location. It was morning school time and the terrorists' plan was obvious. The truck driver in order to trap the terrorists took them straight to the camp of 16 Cavalry unit of the Army at around 7:45 am. Out of the two sentries, there was one sentry posted at the gate. The other had gone to collect breakfast. The fedayeen shot down the sentry point blank in his head. The regiment had a BPET on Thursday and officers had come to the mess. On hearing the gunfire, the second-in-command Lt Col Bikramjit Singh came out. He was hit on the chest and died on the spot. The terrorists entered the mess building and went to the top floor. One of the terrorists closed the doors of a room from inside and lobbed a grenade, injuring a jawan, who was rushed to Satwari medical hospital. While lifting the injured jawan, the grenade exploded injuring 9 more jawans. When the commanding officer Col Avin Uthaiah (hailing from Karnataka) came out, the terrorists were already on the first floor. They fired at the colonel, and the latter was hit in the abdomen, and is currently critical. During the daylong operation, the 16 Cavalry unit first used a T-72 tank for cover, and later the commandos took over. The commandos took out all three fedayeen one by one, and by 5 pm, all three terrorists were shot dead.The Army lost Lt Col Bikramjeet Singh, 39, Second-in-Command of the Unit and a resident of Sector 18A Chandigarh in the firing along with three other soldiers including Sepoy Kiran Kumar Reddy 29, a resident of Sudhukurli Pilla, in district Chitoor, Andhra Pradesh, Sepoy Meesala Srnivas, 29 of village Mendada, district Vizilangiri, Andhra Pradesh and Havaldar Indra Singh, 38 a resident of Ward No. 17, Jhunjhun, Rajasthan. Injured Army personnel including Commanding Officer of the Unit Col Avin Adhiya, who hailed from village Kakotupran Girijapte, district Kodagu, Karnataka and Sepoy Gaya Singh R/o Deeyanoor Kuklam, district Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu. Both of them have been admitted in Military Hospital, Chandigarh.Though separatists in Srinagar claimed the Shohada (martyrs) brigade behind the attack, the modus operandi was clear. It had the clear imprint of Lashkar-e-Toiba, who had infiltrated their terrorists from Pakistan to carry out their plan to lay siege to the Army school, for a prolonged standoff, Kenya-style.

Inside story of Jammu terror attacks: Terrorists wanted to lay siege to Army school, truck driver foiled plan

Jammu: Three terrorists, in combat dress and heavily armed, on Thursday morning crossed the international border and reached Hiranagar village of Kathua district, which is close to the border. They stopped a load carrier (JK

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