J&K: 4 'foreign' militants planning suicide attack on security forces killed

Srinagar: Four gunmen believed to be foreign militants were killed in a daylong gun fight with the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s frontier Rajouri district on Wednesday.

The officials said that the slain militants had planned a fidayeen or suicide attack against the security forces in the area but before they could execute the plan, the security forces took on them in Sunderbani area of Rajouri.

J&K’s Director General of Police, Shesh Paul Vaid, tweeted “4 Terrorists killed in joint operation in Sunderbani Rajouri. It was a group recently infiltrated from LoC. Great job boys”.

The police in a statement said that the militants were “eliminated” in a “well coordinated daylong operation.”  

It said that a search operation in the villages of Sunderbani was going for the last two days following “specific inputs”. It added, “Last night, a strong input was developed after which a joint column of the police, the Army and the BSF launched an operation in the area Rawariya Talla near a security establishment,”

According to the police, on Wednesday morning the militants hiding in bushes opened fire on the search party after which siege was laid to the area and with the arrival of reinforcements action was initiated against the militants.

A police spokesman in Jammu said that the slain militants were “attempting to carry out a major fidayeen  attack somewhere which has been foiled successfully.” He also said that several weapons with ammunition were found on the slain militants whose identity is being ascertained.

The officials believe that the militants had sneaked into Rajouri from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir after breaching the Line of Control (LoC) five days ago.

An earlier report had said that the militants had attacked a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in the area. The authorities denied it. As per another report, a sentry at the gate of a CRPF camp at Sodra in Sunderbani area fired some warning shots and raised an alarm after he detected some suspicious movement near it.

Rajouri's SSP Yougal Manhas said three bags of ammunition and explosives were recovered from outside the CRPF camp.

Following the incident, Rajouri Deputy Commissioner Shahid Iqbal Choudary, ordered the closure of all the educational institutions in Sunderbani sector “as a precautionary measure”.

On Tuesday night, two gunmen had barged into the house of one Bushan Kumar Sharma in Bunpori-Yoginallah area in Sunderbani and had forced the family to prepare food, which they had taken away along with themselves, the police sources said.