Four days ahead of Independence day, two terrorists tried to carry out a fidayeen attack on an Army base in Parghal area of Jammu early on Thursday morning, killing three soldiers. The jawans manning the Army post at Parghal repulsed the attack and shot dead both the terrorists who were armed with Kalishnikovs and grenades, and were wearing armed forces caps.
The terrorist attack comes a day after China blocked India and United States’ attempt to proscribe JeM’s number 2 Abdul Rauf Azhar at the United Nations Security Council.
Four-hour battle
Reports suggest the terrorists attempted to sneak into the base at 2 last night and the gun battle went on for about four hours.
"In the early hours on Thursday, alert sentries of the Indian Army post at Parghal, in Rajouri district detected suspicious persons approaching their post taking advantage of the inclement weather and dense foliage," PRO (defence) Jammu Lt Col Devender Anand said. According to local police, the two terrorists are suspected to belong to proscribed Pakistan-backed outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad .
The spokesperson also stated that the terrorists lobbed grenades to gain access to the post but the troops cordoned off the area and engaged them in a gun battle. The duo were eventually shot dead , he said. Three soldiers also lost their lives to bullet injuries while six were injured. Additional forces were deployed to back up the troops engaged in the gun fight with the terrorists.
Intelligence inputs
The deceased army personnel have been identified as Subedar Rajendra Prasad, who belongs to Maligoven village in Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu district, rifleman Lakshmanan D, who is a resident of T Pudupatti village in Madurai district of Tamil Nadu, and rifleman Manoj Kumar, a native of Shahjahanpur village in Haryana's Faridabad, Anand stated.
Additional Director General of Police Mukesh Singh, who is incharge of the Jammu zone, said security forces and the police were put on alert owing to intelligence inputs on terrorists movement in the Rajouri area because of which a combing operation was carried out in Darhal and Nowshera belt on Wednesday.