JAMMU: An
IAF personnel
died and four others were wounded Saturday evening following a
gunfight
that ensued when
terrorists
ambushed their trucks traversing a mountain road amid dense forest cover in Poonch district of J&K.
The five men were evacuated to the nearest military hospital, where one of them died of his wounds. The attack prompted army and police to launch a coordinated cordon and search in the area.
“Military Engineering Services (MES) and IAF vehicles were targeted near a government higher secondary school in Sanai Sattar village of Poonch,” an official source said.
The convoy was en route to Sanai Top in the district’s Surankote area, returning after some technical work on radars deployed in Poonch sector. “The vehicles have been secured inside the air base in the general area near Shah Sitar,” the source said.
The attack is believed to be aimed at disrupting the polls in Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat on May 7. Security has been heightened for the elections and forces were conducting search operations in Poonch the past couple of days following inputs about movement of terrorists in the district bordering Pakistan.
BSF personnel in Samba sector thwarted a potential infiltration attempt along the border, killing an “intruder”. Several frontier villages were put on high alert.
Saturday’s ambush adds to attacks on military personnel in Jammu region. A terrorist ambush on two Army vehicles in Poonch district on Dec 21 last year left four soldiers dead. Just a month earlier, security forces faced five fatalities in adjoining Rajouri sector. On April 20 last year, five soldiers were killed in an ambush on a military truck in Bhata Dhurian of Poonch district, while another five died during an attack on an Army camp in adjoining Rajouri district on Aug 11.
The two frontier districts in Jammu were declared terrorism-free more than a decade ago, but recorded 35 fatalities, including that of 26 soldiers, in attacks from Oct 2021 to Jan 2024.
