Jammu and Kashmir: Terrorists attack Indian Army vehicles, 4 soldiers killed

Four Indian Army personnel reportedly lost their lives while three others were injured in a terrorist attack on two military vehicles in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday (Dec 21), news agency PTI reported citing officials.

The report added that the officials said the bodies of two of the soldiers were mutilated.

The injured were rushed to a nearby hospital.

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The officials have said that the vehicles were carrying the personnel to the site of a cordon-and-search operation. But it came under attack at a blind curve at Dhatyar Morh between Dhera Ki Gali and Bufliaz under the jurisdiction of Surankote police station around 3.45 pm (IST).

The Army said in a statement: "Indian Army troops also immediately retaliated after being attacked by terrorists. The troops were going to reinforce a joint operation against terrorists going on in the area since last evening. The operations are taking place in the 48 Rashtriya Rifles area."

Earlier, Jammu-based defence PRO Lt Col Suneel Bartwal said a joint search operation was launched in the general area of Dhera Ki Gali in the Thanamandi-Surankote region of Poonch district Wednesday night based on "hard intelligence" about the presence of terrorists.

Disturbing images and videos emerging from the site showed blood on the street, broken helmets of soldiers and shattered windscreens of the two Army vehicles.

The ambush comesafter a major gunfight in the Dharmsal belt of Bajimaal forest area in nearby Rajouri district had left five Army personnel, including two captains, dead last month.

The stretch between Dhera Ki Gali and Bufliaz is on the boundary of Rajouri and Poonch districts. It is densely forested and goes to Chamrer forest, then to Bhata Dhurian woodland, where five troops were killed in action in an ambush on an Army truck on April 20 earlier this year.

In May, five more Army personnel were killed and a major-rank officer was injured in Chamrer forest during an anti-terrorist operation. A foreign terrorist was also killed in the operation.

Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mehbooba Mufti, the former chief ministers of J&K havestrongly condemned the attack.

(With inputs from agencies)