An Army convoy in Krishna Ghati sector close to Line of Control (LoC) came under fire on Friday evening. Soldiers did not retaliate due to the presence of villagers in the vicinity. There was no loss of life in the incident, the Army informed.

The incident comes 22 days after a similar ambush in Dera ki Gali in Suranote area of the district on December 21 in which an Army gypsy and a truck were fired upon by ultras from different directions killing four soldiers.

Sources informed that at least two bullets were fired from a hilltop on a vehicle of a senior Army officer at Dara Dullian area who was travelling on Mendhar-Poonch road. The area is not very far from the LoC with Pakistan.

Units of Army and Special Operations Group (SOG) immediately cordoned off the area where the incident took place and a search operation was launched inside the forest area. However due to the dark, the search operation was not aggressive.

Checkpoints were installed at most of the roads in the area. However, the terrorists had fired from the forest area and escaped from the site.

White Knight Corps of Army, in an official statement, said, “At around 6 pm today, a security forces convoy of vehicles was fired upon by suspected terrorists from a jungle near Krishna Ghati-Poonch sector. No casualties to own troops. Joint search operations by Indian Army and JKP are on”.

Sources informed that the area where the incident took place has forest as well as some homes of locals in the vicinity. The terrain is tough and has thick vegetation. Sources in Army intelligence said that that it cannot be denied that the group involved in the ambush on December 21 might be behind this attack.

Northern Command in a post on X stated, “A firing incident near Krishna Ghati, Poonch sector, on convoy of security forces. Alert troops followed drills and procedures and withheld fire due to the presence of villagers.”

Courtesy: The Tribune India:  13th  Jan , 2024