Army soldiers takes position during an attack by militants at Janglote village of Kautha district yesterday.
IANS/Jammu
Three militants, dressed in army uniforms, yesterday attacked an army camp in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district riding a goods vehicle they hijacked at gunpoint, but were shot dead after a gunfight.
A soldier and the vehicle’s driver and another occupant were also killed.
Jammu inspector general of police Rajesh Kumar told reporters that the operation against the three guerrillas, dressed in army uniforms, ended in the evening after all three were killed by the security forces.
The three militants earlier hijacked a truck, killed one of its occupants and forced the driver to take them to the army camp in the Kathua district.
The body of the vehicle’s driver has been found some distance away from the Kalibari-Janglote army camp where the three guerrillas were engaged in a sustained gunfight by the security forces.
“The body of Tarseem Singh, the driver of the load carrier that had been hijacked by the militants from Dayal Chak on the Jammu-Pathankot national highway, was spotted by some civilians 2kms from the Kalibari-Janglote camp,” Rajesh Kumar said.
“Tarseem Singh belonging to Ranbir Singh Pura area was forced to drive the vehicle by the militants after they killed one occupant of the vehicle on the spot and injured three others at Dayal Chak around 4.30am,” he said. “The bullet-riddled body of Tarseem Singh has been taken over by police for completion of formalities,” he added.
A defence spokesman said the three guerrillas were killed in a joint operation by the army and the state police at Kalibari Janglote camp. One soldier was killed in the operation while another was injured, he added. After the twin terror strikes on the highway, traffic on the otherwise busy Jammu-Pathankot highway was stopped.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah condemned the terror strike. “I would like to unequivocally condemn the militant attack in Kathua area of Jammu,” he tweeted.