A group of heavily armed fidayeens of Jaish-e-Mohammad's Afzal Guru Squad (AGS) donning combat fatigues stormed the 36 Brigade Headquarters of the Army killing two soldiers and injuring nine others before taking shelter in the residential blocks of Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) at Sunjuwan in the Jammu division on Saturday morning.
Three terrorists were killed in the retaliation by the Army and most of the 150 houses were cleared and occupants evacuated, till reports last came in.
Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Revenue and Parliamentary Affairs, Abdul Rehman Veeri identified the slain soldiers as Subedar Madan Lal Chowdhary and Subedar Mohammad Ashraf Mir but said the exact number of militants was still not known.
Veeri told the Legislative Assembly that at 4.10 am a group of fidayeen attacked the Sunjuwan Military Station resulting in the death of two soldiers. He said during the operation, Colonel Rohit Solanki, Havaldar Abdul Hamid and Lance Naik Bahadur Singh and Subedar Madan Lal Chowdhary's daughter Neha got injured.
Commandos from elite Special Forces were flown to Jammu to help flush-out the terrorists. The terrorists wearing combat uniforms were carrying AK 56 assault rifles, large amount of ammunition and hand grenades.
Searches confirmed that the terrorists to be from Jaish-e Mohammad.
Colonel NN Joshi, defence spokesman at Northern Command Headquarters said, "So far one JCO and one Non Commissioned Officer, both belonging to J&K have been martyred and nine others including women and children are injured, two of them are in critical condition. Operations will continue till all the terrorists are apprehended or killed."
Dr Nirmal Singh, deputy chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir said there was initial information about terrorists planning to attack at two places.
"We had already sounded alert. They later changed the strategy and entered into the army camp. Here also since we had inputs the sentry fired but they somehow managed to enter."
Union home minister Rajnath Singh said that the Army and security forces are effectively accomplishing their job and handling their responsibility. "They will never let any Indian hang his head in shame,"
Singh also spoke to state police chief SP Vaid taking stock of the situation.
The security establishment in Delhi was in a huddle with senior officials from security and intelligence agencies getting regular updates and strategising.
The attack comes at a time when security forces had sounded alert in valley about the possible fidayeen attack in the wake of the death anniversaries of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru on February 9 and JKLF leader Mohommad Maqbool Bhat on Feburary 11. While the focus was on Kashmir, militants struck in Jammu.
Since 2016 when terrorists targeted a an army camp in Uri killing 18 soldiers the cycle of violence has escalated as the Indian Army carried out surgical strikes across LoC destroying terror camps in retaliation.
Sources said, the wife of one of the injured soldiers informed the police control room about the fidayeen attack and sought immediate help to evacuate her husband.
"A call received from a mobile number on 100 informed about the fidayeen attack and requested help saying militants are firing, and her husband has got seriously injured and needs immediate evacuation. PCR Jammu immediately informed all the concerned police stations as well as the civil administration about the incident", said an officer.
Soon after the attack, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister chaired the meeting to review the security with top officers in Jammu. "Deeply disturbed by the terrorist attack in Sunjuwan today. My heart goes out to the injured and their families. Chaired a high level security meeting in Jammu in the wake of the attack in Sunjuwan", tweeted Mehbooba.
This is the second major fidayeen attack in Jammu and Kashmir in the last two months. On December 31, heavily armed Jaish-e-Mohammad fidayeens stormed the highly secured training facility of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) killing five soldiers including an officer and injuring three others in south Kashmir's Pulwama district. Three holed up fidayeens were neutralized after 36 hours of operation.
On January 9, 2017 heavily armed militants stormed the General Reserve Engineering Force (GREF) camp and unleashed mayhem killing three civilian labourers and injuring another near the Line of Control (LoC) at Battal village in Jorian area of Ahknoor in Jammu division.
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