http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/jammu-kashmir/four-more-bodies-terror-toll-6/542517.html
Second day on Sunday, with the number of casualties rising to six as Army commandos recovered the bodies of another Junior Commissioned Officer, two soldiers and a civilian during sanitisation of residential quarters.
All four were killed by the terrorists in the initial stage yesterday, the Army said.
The six deceased were identified as Subedar Madan Lal Choudhary from Kathua, Subedar Mohd Ashraf Mir from Kupwara, Havildar Hahibullah Qurashi from Kupwara, Naik Manzoor Ahmed from Qazigund, Lance Naik Mohd Iqbal from Pulwama and his father.
The Army said three heavily-armed terrorists, who managed to enter the military base in the wee hours of Saturday, had been killed. The state government had initially said four to five terrorists had stormed the camp. Unconfirmed reports suggested that two more terrorists had been eliminated.
While a team of the National Investigation Agency also reached the Army camp, sources said Army Chief General Bipin Rawat and Western Army Command chief Lt Gen Surinder Singh took an aerial survey of the operation.
Meanwhile, a soldier, Gunner Kishore Kumar Munna of Chautham in Bihar, who was injured in ceasefire violation in Poonch on February 4, succumbed to his injuries today.
Security men near the spot from where terrorists are believed to have entered the Sunjuwan Army base. Tin sheets have been used in the absence of a compound wall. Tribune Photo
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/ja...throws-up-glaring-security-lapses/542442.html
Arteev Sharma
Tribune News Service
Jammu, February 11
The Sunjuwan terror attack that left five soldiers and a civilian dead has brought to surface glaring security lapses in the Army camp spread over seven square kilometres.
At first sight, the Sunjuwan military base appears to be a veritable fortress with armed soldiers guarding it round the clock, but several loopholes spotted in its security apparatus should have been plugged to avert the second terror attack at the camp.
It appears that no lessons were learnt from the previous attack on the same camp in June 2003 when two terrorists cut through barbed wires to enter the military base that had left at least 12 soldiers dead and nine others
injured before they were gunned down.
Nearly three or four nullahs are on its rear side, wherefrom the terrorists had probably stormed the Army camp early Saturday morning. On several places where the compound wall of 8-12 feet in height with concertina wires lies damaged, fragile tin sheets have been used as a deterrent.
Close to the compound wall, the administration has allowed the construction of private houses while a floating population of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar (Rohingya), who have been identified as potential security threats by the Ministry of Home Affairs, have settled on the banks of nullahs near the military station. The Army area is easily visible from the rooftops of the houses nearby.
The terror attack, however, has also exemplified that terrorists had sympathisers in the area who helped them locate a vulnerable stretch of nullahs to get inside the station. It also indicated that the terrorists had conducted a reconnaissance of the area before launching an attack.
“We had never thought that anything like this could take place here. We were under the impression that we are the safest people here and no thief could also dare to enter our house but now big thieves (terrorists) have managed to strike Army men. If the Army personnel are not safe, how can we be? This is a very serious development for us,” said Nadeem Salim, a 29-year-old government teacher in Bhaderwah who has constructed a house adjacent to the Army compound wall at Iqbal Colony in Sunjuwan.
Salim said he had shifted his family to their relatives in the Kachi Chawni area of Jammu old city after the policemen told them to stay away till the operation was over.
A defence official, who did not wish to be identified, said the administration should not have allowed the construction of houses adjacent to the compound wall. “There should be no construction within a radius of 100 metres. The constructions next to the fence have put our security apparatus at risk. As far as this incident is concerned, the Army acted swiftly to isolate the terrorists, avoiding major collateral damage,” the official said.
No lessons learnt
- It appears that no lessons were learnt from the previous attack on the same camp in June 2003 when two terrorists cut through barbed wires to enter the military base that had left at least 12 soldiers dead
- Nearly three or four nullahs are on its rear side, wherefrom the terrorists had probably stormed the Army camp early Saturday morning. On several places where the compound wall of 8-12 feet in height with concertina wires lies damaged, just fragile tin sheets have been used as a deterrent
- There should be no construction within a radius of 100 metres. The constructions next to the fence have put the security apparatus at risk, said a defence official
https://www.hindustantimes.com/indi...eing-probed/story-BmgFkTeoJClJZUKBf3C6vL.html
The attackers were all Pakistani citizens who had been operating in the Kashmir valley since last year, and had travelled to Jammu just days before the attack, the official said.
An initial probe suggested the attackers had entered from a spot at the rear of the camp where the boundary was secured only with metal sheets. “One of the attackers, Qari Mushtaq alias Chotu, was active in Tral in south Kashmir. The two others have been identified as Mohammed Adil alias Irfan Bhai, who was operating in Sopore and Pulwama sectors, and Mohammed Khalid Khan alias Rashid Bhai, who was also active in Pulwama,” said the central security official, who asked not to be named.
Jammu & Kashmir’s police chief SP Vaid said the militants may have been helped with reconnaissance and ammunition by some local sympathisers.
“Information available with us suggests the attackers had crossed from Pakistan into the Kashmir valley sometime in July-August last year,” Vaid said. “We suspect they may not have taken the risk of travelling with weapons from the Valley to Jammu. It is possible that some local supporters may have provided them with arms and ammunition. This angle is being probed,” he added.
“It looks like they cut the tin sheets to enter inside the camp from the rear through a seasonal nallah (drain),” he confirmed.
Investigators have found syringes where the militants hid in the camp’s residential quarters before the attack. Suicide attackers have been known to take shots of morphine before launching attacks.
Officers of the J&K police and central security officials said there should have been better security arrangements to secure the boundary wall, especially since the camp had been attacked in 2003, suggesting it was vulnerable, and since such camps have been prime targets since the 2016 attack at a military base in Uri.
The attack was carried out in spite of a high alert for potential terror strikes because February 9 was the fifth anniversary of the hanging of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
As per the standard operating procedure, a team from the federal anti-terrorism probe agency, the National Investigating Agency (NIA), reached Jammu on Sunday.
“The investigation is likely to be handed over the NIA,” said a home ministry official, who asked not to be named.
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http://indianexpress.com/article/in...error-attack-delivers-girl-both-safe-5060158/
A 24-year-old woman who sustained a bullet injury during the terror attack at Sunjwan military station in Jammu delivered a baby girl late on Saturday night. According to Army, both the woman and her baby are in a stable condition.
Shahzada Khan, wife of Naik Nazir Ahmed Khan of Budgam, was walking inside the residential complex in Jammu when terrorists attacked. She suffered a gunshot wound in the incident. To save the pregnant woman and her baby, doctors at the military hospital decided to get it delivered through a C-section surgery late on Saturday night.
“Army doctors worked through the night to save the life of a severely injured lady with a gunshot wound and through a caesarean section delivered a baby girl,’’ an Army spokesperson said. “Both the mother and the baby are stable,’’ the spokesperson added.
The Army added that the condition of a 14-year-old boy, who suffered a head injury during the attack, was stated to be critical.
Former Chief Minister and National Conference working president Omar Abdullah tweeted, “Amidst the tragedy, reports of good news — an injured wife of one of the soldiers delivered a baby at military hospital in Jammu.”
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Indian army soldiers carry the body of their colleague who was killed in an attack on an army camp, on a stretcher outside a hospital in Jammu February 11, 2018. Reuters
