Two Army officers and five soldiers lost their lives in a major terrorist attack on Tuesday at an army base near Jammu in the town of Nagrota, just 20 kilometres from the border with Pakistan.
Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag on Wednesday visited the Nagrota-based 16 Corps headquarters and was briefed about Tuesday's terror attack in which seven officers and jawans were killed, even as combing operation to flush out any remaining militant continued.
One terrorist was killed on Monday as special forces were mobilised to neutralise a group of recently infiltrated ultras who attacked an army convoy in a village in the Akhnoor sector near Jammu, officials said.
The 3 arrested were in continuous touch through WhatsApp with Maulana Mufti Ashghar, based in Muzaffarabad, whose nephew Waqas (JeM commander in South Kashmir) was killed in an encounter near Pulwama recently.
Drones were sighted and explosions were heard in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, a day after India thwarted attempts by the Pakistan military to attack Indian military installations using drones and missiles. The drones were also engaged in Udhampur and Nagrota of Jammu and Punjab. Heavy cross-border shelling started along the International Border in Suchetgarh and Ramgarh sectors of Jammu and Samba districts. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah appealed to residents to stay indoors and ignore rumors.
Monsoon hit the state on June 20 and has since then cost it Rs 5,000 crore in damages.
Raj Kumar Thapa, additional district development commissioner, Rajouri, and his two staff members were seriously injured when an artillery shell hit his official residence in Rajouri town, the officials said.
Meanwhile, a precautionary blackout has been enforfced in the multiple areas amid the esclating tensions between India and Pakistan.
Pakistani military targets at Rafiqui, Murid, Chaklala, Rahim Yar Khan, Sukkur and Chunian were engaged using air-launched precision weapons from Indian fighter jets and the retaliation largely focused on command and control centres, radar sites and weapon storage areas, Qureshi said.
The alleged torture of five civilians by Army personnel in Kishtwar has triggered angry reactions from various political parties in Jammu and Kashmir, notably from Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who has demanded a transparent investigation and court martial for those found guilty.
The officer said two main building complexes where the gun-battle and hostage-like situation took place have been cleared and they are totally free from blinds (unexploded shells).
The Army has said that Agniveer Amritpal Singh committed suicide by shooting himself while on sentry duty and that military honours were not extended to his funeral as deaths arising out of self-inflicted injuries are not given such honours.
Bravery of the wives of two army officers who were staying in the family quarters helped in averting a major hostage crisis during the encounter that took place in Nagrota area of Jammu on Tuesday.
The former home minister also "disproved" the belief that surgical strikes can end cross-border terrorism.
Another soldier was seriously injured in the incident and was evacuated immediately to the Army Hospital at Rajouri, they said.
'The devious minds across the border will test us to the hilt, but in the course of that will offer us opportunities for which we must be prepared,' says Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd), who commanded the Uri Brigade, the Baramulla Division and the Srinagar-based Chinar Corps.
This is the first time that suicide attackers have adopted this tactic.
Army's counter-terrorism operation in the Nar Khas forest area of Poonch continued on Friday morning.
Soldiers display their combat skills at the Nagrota military station in Jammu.
"There are floods. Large number of leaders try to portray militant groups in a good way. A number of militant groups have sent their elements to Balochistan and Sindh for helping people affected by floods," Lt Gen Singh said.
Opposition parties forced early adjournments in both Houses of parliament as they continued to press for a debate on demonetisation under any rule that entailed voting, a demand that the government has refused to accept. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi led a walkout by the Opposition over no obituary references being made for the seven Army personnel who lost their lives in the terror attack on an Army base in Nagrota, Jammu and Kashmir.
Flight Lieutenant Adivitiya Bal was killed in the line of duty along with Wing Commander Mohit Rana in last week's MiG-21 crash in Barmer. His school in Nagrota, Jammu, gave a final salute to a worthy ex-student.
"Lt Col Indranuj Borhain was washed away by flash floods, while he was engaged in repairing work on a causeway at Nagrota," Spokesman Col S D Goswami told PTI. The army had launched a rescue operation soon after the incident around 6 am, but could not save the officer, he said.
Security and defence experts have called for immediate strengthening of the security management and intelligence network along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu region, which witnessed the killing of 59 people, including 24 security personnel and 28 terrorists, in terror incidents this year.
Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag on Tuesday visited the forward areas in Rajouri and Jammu districts and reviewed the overall security situation in the region.
Indian Army Chief General Bikram Singh, who arrived on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, briefed Governor N N Vohra and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah about the recent reports of Chinese army incursions in Ladakh.
Matondkar, 48, had resigned from the Congress in September 2019 after a short association of six months, and joined the Shiv Sena in 2020.
Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh was on Wednesday briefed about the security situation in the wake of the killing of five Indian jawans along the Line of Control in Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir.
The 42-year-old officer, Lt Col Madukar Singh Choudhan, was found lying unconscious in his room on Thursday evening and was shifted to a hospital where he was declared brought dead, police said.
"2000 to 2500 armed militants in Pakistan training camps are ready to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir," Brigadier General of Staff, 16 Corps, Brigadier Gurdeep Singh told media-persons at Nagrota Corps headquarters in Jammu on Monday.He said there were approximately 42 training camps across the border out of which 34 are active.
The defence ministry spokesman refused to confirm or deny any such operation.
"The army chief chief reviewed the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and also operational preparedness of Northern Command at a high-level meeting," officials said.
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Stating that militants attempt to enter into Jammu and Kashmir before the onset of winter, General Officer Commanding (GoC) of 16 Corps Lt Gen K H Singh on Saturday claimed that there are "150 to 200 militants" staged in various camps on the other side of the border in a bid to infiltrate into this side.
'In a civilian area, the army cannot restrict civilians arbitrarily. It is not dadagiri.'
'General Rawat's unambiguous stand has acted as a much needed confidence booster to the troops -- young officers and soldiers at the cutting edge -- who were often left wondering if they were doing the right and necessary thing in combating the terrorists, many times paying with their own lives,' says Nitin A Gokhale.
The army also stated that allocation of Rs 21,338 crore for modernisation is insufficient.
The army chief said that radicalisation in Kashmir was being addressed with a "lot of seriousness"
There was no report of any casualty in the latest ceasefire violation which came a day after a personnel of the Indian Army was killed and three others including two women were injured in separate ceasefire violations by Pakistan in Rajouri and Poonch districts.
Slogans for his long afterlife rented the air, as coffin of Flight Lieutenant Advitiya Bal arrived at his home in Jinder Mehlu hamlet of border belt of R S Pura, where thousands of people gathered to pay their last respects to the fighter pilot.
Senior government sources said the charge of carrying out a Pulwama scale terror attack bigger was given to the Jaish-e-Mohammed headed by Maulana Masood Azhar by Pakistan Army's Inter-Services Intelligence.
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