Jammu, Aug 11: Four soldiers including a Junior Commissioned Officer and two militants were killed and two army personnel were injured in a predawn “fidayeen” attack on an army camp in Rajouri district on Thursday.
A defence ministry spokesman said that in the early hours, “alert sentries” of the Army post at Parghal Rajouri detected suspicious persons approaching their post, taking advantage of the inclement weather and dense foliage.
“The sentries challenged the two (militants) who threw grenade while attempting to gain entry inside the post,” the spokesman said, adding, “However alert troops cordoned the area and engaged them in a fire fight thereby pinning them.”
In the ensuing encounter, he said, four soldiers were killed and two others were injured. “Six soldiers of Indian Army were injured in the operation out of which, four succumbed to their injuries while repulsing this suicide attack.”
The killed soldiers have been identified as Subedar (Junior Commissioned Officer) Rajendra Prasad, a resident of Maligoven Jhunjhunu area of Rajasthan, Rifleman Lakshmanan D, T Pudupatti Thummakundu Tamil Nadu, Rifleman Manoj Kumar of Shahjahanpur Faridabad (Haryana) and Rifleman Nishant Malik of Adarsh Nagar Hisar (Haryana). Identity of the killed militants has not been revealed so far.
