Terrorist attack on army truck in Jammu and Kashmir, 5 soldiers martyred, attackers fired, grenade attack also suspected; Soldiers died due to scorching
Terrorists opened fire on an army truck in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir at around 3 pm on Thursday. After this the truck caught fire, in which 5 soldiers were martyred. The martyrs have been identified as Lance Naik Debasish Baswal, Lance Naik Kulwant Singh, Sepoy Harkishan Singh, Sepoy Sewak Singh and Havildar Mandeep Singh. Of these, Lance Naik Debasish Baswal is a resident of Orissa, the other four martyrs are residents of Punjab.
The army suspects that unknown terrorists also threw grenades at the truck. This is what started the fire.
In a statement issued by the Northern Command Headquarters, it was told that the truck carrying the soldiers was going from Bhimber Gali towards Poonch. It was raining. Visibility was also very less. The terrorists took advantage of this. A jawan has also been seriously injured in the attack. He has been admitted to the army hospital in Rajouri.
It was also told in the statement that the soldiers who were martyred belonged to the Rashtriya Rifles Unit. He was deployed in the ongoing operations against the terrorists in the area. Earlier, an army official had told that the soldiers died due to fire in the truck. It was also suspected that the truck caught fire due to lightning.
Army Chief General Manoj Pandey informed Defense Minister Rajnath Singh about the attack.
Defense expert said – Pakistan attacked because of G-20’s tourism meet
Defense expert Major General (retd) PK Sehgal attributed the attack to lack of vigilance. He said- It is a standard operating procedure that such attacks can happen when there is bad weather, rain, fog.
The soldiers of Rashtriya Rifles are high level trends. His company should have been alert at a time when an attack could have taken place. Pakistan took advantage of the lapse in vigilance and this attack happened. I hope the search operation is on. Soon the attackers will be arrested. They will not be allowed to go back to Pakistan.
The G-20 tourism meet is to be held in Kashmir on May 23-24. A few days ago the Home Minister had gone to Kashmir, he had said that there should be no laxity in security so that Pakistan does not get any chance. Pakistan will try to make international headlines. He will try to do all kinds of harm to us in view of the G-20 summit.
In January, the vehicle fell into a deep gorge after slipping through snow in Machil, killing 3 soldiers.
On January 11 this year, an army officer and two soldiers were martyred in the Machil sector of Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir. All three were soldiers of the Chinar Corps of the Indian Army. This team of one JCO (Junior Commissioned Officer) and 2 OR (Other Ranks) had left for regular operation. Due to the snow, his car slipped and fell into a deep gorge.
The names of those killed were Naib Subedar Purushottam Kumar, Havaldar Amrik Singh and Constable Amit Sharma.
16 soldiers lost their lives in December last year
In December last year, an army truck fell into a gorge at Jema in Sikkim, in which 16 soldiers were killed. The army had two more vans. All the three vehicles left for Thangu from Chatan. On the way, the truck skidded at a turn and fell into the ditch. In this accident, 4 soldiers were seriously injured, who were later airlifted.
The accident happened in Machil in November
In November last year too, three jawans were hit by an avalanche in Machil area of Kupwara. 2 jawans were safely pulled out from under the snow. Five jawans of 56 Rashtriya Rifles were on routine patrol when the incident took place. The rescue operation was started as soon as the information about the accident was received, but by the time the jawans were evacuated, 3 had died.
