Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 24:Number of the persons detained so far in connection with terror attack on Army personnel at Bhatta Durrian in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch district has gone up to 50 even as the Army expanded its searches to the Line of Control (LoC) to ensure that the militants don’t manage to escape to Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK).
While going ahead with search operations in Bhatta Durrian forests of Mendhar, the Army has also launched searches along the LoC as the militants could attempt return to PoJK finding themselves trapped in the forests.
In Bhatta Durrian also, searches continued for fourth consecutive day today but without any major success. Sources said there has been no contact with the militants so far and it is believed that they escaped deep inside Bhatta Durrian forests after carrying out the attack.
Number of the suspects detained so far in connection with the terror attack has gone up to 50. However, some of the suspects have been let off after finding that they had nothing to do with the attack.
Additional troops have been inducted to further intensify the cordon-and-search operation in Bhatta Durrian, Tota Gali and neighbouring areas. As the operation entered fourth day today with engagement of multiple security agencies, the entire belt is put under cordon, sources said.
Five Army bravehearts sacrificed their lives and another was seriously injured when their vehicle caught fire during the terror attack at Bhatta Durrian in Mendhar area of Poonch on Thursday.
According to the investigation, the militants likely hid in a culvert on a stretch of the Bhimber Gali-Poonch road before they attacked the truck that was carrying Army jawans.
A sniper is believed to have targeted the Army truck from front before his associates showered bullets and lobbed grenades at it from opposite sides, apparently giving the troops no time to retaliate, they added.
The armoured vehicle was found riddled with more than 50 bullet marks.
During the search operation, troops came across a few natural cave hideouts in the area, which could possibly have been used by the militants in the past, they said, adding the troops are also looking for any Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) the militants may have planted in the densely forested areas, especially in deep gorges and caves.
The Army truck attacked in Poonch was carrying fruits, vegetables and other items from the Bhimber Gali camp to Sangiote village for Iftar celebration scheduled to be held at 7 pm on Thursday, the officials said. The fallen soldiers were from a Rashtriya Rifles unit deployed for counter-terror operations.
The Bhimber Gali-Poonch road, which was closed for vehicular traffic following the terror attack, was reopened for traffic yesterday.
Experts from various agencies, including the National Security Guard (NSG) and the National Investigation Agency (NIA), have visited the site of the attack in the past three days to probe the incident, the officials said.
The officials said security forces and intelligence agencies investigating the latest attack were startled to find out a “striking resemblance” between the ambush and the attack on a police vehicle in Gambhir Mughlan village of Rajouri on January 1, 2001, in which 14 personnel of the Special Operations Group (SOG) and two Health Workers were killed.
“The site of the Bhatta Durrian ambush is only 23 km from the 2001 Gambhir Mughlan ambush location. Both the vehicles were set ablaze by militants using explosives or chemicals after firing indiscriminately from a very close range on the on-board personnel. Thereafter, they decamped with service rifles of the victims,” an official said.
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