The terrorists on Monday struck in the border district of Rajouri by attacking the house of a Shaurya Chakra awardee Village Defence Guard (VDG) member Parshotam Kumar in Gundah village in Budhal, triggering a gunfight with the army. In the firefight, an army man and a villager, who is a relative of the VDG member, were injured.
Jammu-based defence spokesman said terrorists attacked the house of a Shaurya Chakra awardee Village Defence Guard (VDG) member Parshotam Kumar in Gundah village in Budhal in Rajouri at around 3.10 am.
He said the army men deployed in the nearby camp rushed to the spot to take on militants.
“The gunfight started after the terrorists fired on the army men,” the spokesman said.
In the gunfight, an army jawan and a villager identified as Vijay Kumar, who is relative of Shaurya Chakra awardee VDG member, were injured. The injured have been hospitalized.
After the gunfight, additional police, CRPF and army men were rushed to the area to track down the terrorists, who are said to be 2-3 in number and had gone deep inside the forest area.
“The searches are going on when reports last poured in,” a security official said.
According to security officials, the VDG member Purshotam was instrumental in killing of two militants in Kalakote area of Rajouri last year. He had provided information to security forces about presence of militants and had also participated in anti-militancy operation during which two militants were killed.
Purshotam was recently awarded Shaurya Chakra for his bravery by President Droupadi Murmu.
This incident comes amid a spike in terrorist attacks in the recent past — from Kathua to Reasi and Rajouri to Doda — and ahead of the elections due later this year.
In the most recent terror attack, four soldiers including a Captain were killed in a gunfight with terrorists in Doda district on the night of July 15.
A week before that, there was a terrorist ambush on an army patrol in the remote Machedi forest belt in Kathua district that claimed the lives of five soldiers and injured as many.
After the Doda attack, the Udhampur-based northern command of the Indian Army said it has been conducting a series of joint and coordinated operations with Jammu and Kashmir Police to eliminate foreign terrorists who have infiltrated from across the border and are moving in the upper reaches of Udhampur, Doda and Kishtwar districts in Jammu region and thereafter to Kashmir.
Army has already deployed more troops including special forces commandos in Jammu region to fight highly trained terrorists who have infested the region and carry out attack after attack on the Army.
In last 32 months, 48 army soldiers have been killed in terrorist attacks in Jammu. After almost every attack, terrorists manage to escape without suffering a casualty of their own.
