Five Army personnel were killed and six injured after terrorists ambushed a military convoy in the Machedi area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district on Monday afternoon.
The attack took place at around 3.10 pm when the convoy was on a bridge over a nullah in the remote Badnota village, sources told The Indian Express.
The soldiers who came under attack were among additional troops who had been deployed in the area a few weeks ago.
According to IE sources, the administrative convoy was attacked from two directions. After the initial attack – terrorists first hurled a grenade and then opened fire – the security forces retaliated but the terrorists fled into the nearby forest.
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Reinforcements were then rushed in and a search op was launched to track down the terrorists.
The exchange of fire was underway until late on Monday night. While a search is on, Para (Special Forces) personnel will join the operation on Tuesday.
Kathua has the International Border with Pakistan on one side, and Punjab and Himachal Pradesh on the other. It is also adjacent to J&K’s Udhampur, Doda and Samba districts.
In a post on X, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said, “Deeply anguished at the martyrdom of our four brave Indian Army soldiers in a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua. Six jawans are also injured.”
“We unequivocally condemn this cowardly terror attack on the Army convey in the strongest possible terms,” the Congress chief added.
While the Army and the J&K Police were yet to comment on the incident, Union Minister of State Dr Jitendra Singh wrote on X: “My heart goes out to the braveheart soldiers martyred in the ongoing Kathua encounter. I am in constant touch with the authorities. Joint police and paramilitary operation is on. My sincere appeal to the civilian population not to panic. We have full faith in our armed forces and we are always indebted to them.”
This is the second attack on the Indian Army in the Jammu region in the past 48 hours. On Sunday an Army camp in Rajouri district was attacked. One soldier was injured.