Militant who attacked Army ambulance in Jammu killed in encounter

The Army’s Nagrota-based White Knight Corps unit confirmed the attack in a post on X. The post said that “terrorists fired upon a convoy near #Asan, #Sunderabni Sector, targeting Army vehicles in the morning”.

“The area has been cordoned off, and a search operation to neutralize the terrorists is ongoing. Swift retaliation by own troops ensured foiling of the attempt ensuring no injuries,” it said, adding the area has been cordoned off.

Later, it confirmed that the body of one militant “along with weapons has been recovered”.

According to sources, more militants could have been killed in the encounter but their bodies could not be retrieved from a temple where 1-2 more are still believed hidden. Intermittent firing was still ongoing until the filing of this report.

Meanwhile, the Jammu Kashmir Police too have joined the operation and cordoned the area, sources said.

“Senior police officers, including Additional Director General of Police Jammu Anand Jain, and NSG commandos also reached the spot, and arrangements were being made for a final assault on militants believed to be hiding in the basement of the temple,” one source said.

According to sources, the militants appear to have infiltrated the area by crossing the Manawar Tawi river from the Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) in the early hours of Monday. They were first spotted by some village children who visited the temple, the sources said, adding that the militants then began firing an Army ambulance passing by.

The incident comes amid a spate of terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir a few days after the Omar Abdullah-led National Conference government swept to power here. Two soldiers and two civilian porters working with the Army were killed and three soldiers were injured in a terror attack near the Line of Control in Gulmarg sector last week.

Before that, a militant attack at a campsite in Gagangir, Ganderbal district, left seven employees — including a local doctor — from APCO Infratech dead.

This the first attack in Jammu’s Battal in seven years. In January 2017, militants had allegedly entered a camp of the General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF) there and killed three workers in their sleep before escaping.