Four Indian Army soldiers, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), were killed and one other injured, when two fidayeen tried to enter an army post in Parghal area of Darhal in Rajouri district. The terrorists attacked the post in early hours of the day. However, alert soldiers neutralised the two suicide attackers in retaliatory fire.
“In the early hours of 11 Aug 2022, alert sentries of the Indian Army post at Parghal, District Rajouri, Jammu and Kashmir detected some suspicious persons approaching their post taking advantage of the inclement weather and dense foliage. The sentries challenged the two terrorists who threw grenades while attempting to gain entry inside the post.
However alert troops cordoned the area and engaged them in a firefight thereby pinning them. In the ensuing encounter, two terrorists were neutralised,” Army PRO Lt Col Devender Anand informed the reporters here.
Out of six soldiers who were injured while repulsing the suicide attack by terrorists four succumbed to their injuries.
The soldiers killed in the attack are Subedar Rajendra Prasad of Maligoven village in Jhunjhunu and Riflemen Lakshmanan D of T Pudupatti village in Madurai, Manoj Kumar of Shahjahanpur village in Faridabad and Nishant Malik of Adarsh Nagar in Hisar.
Special Operation Groups of the police were immediately sent to cordon off the area. The police and army were already on high alert after intelligence inputs regarding the movement of two suspects in Darhal area. Mukesh Singh, Additional Director General of Police, Jammu, said, “As reported by 11 Raj Rifles, someone tried to cross the fence of the army camp at Parghal. Sentry challenged and an exchange of fire took place. Additional parties dispatched for the location which is around 6 km from police station Darhal.”
According to sources, the two terrorists came from South Kashmir and were camping in Darhal for the past few days. CCTV cameras installed in shops of the Darhal market captured the movements of these terrorists carrying guns.
Sources said that the terrorists were armed with AK series rifles, grenades and other arms and ammunitions, which could hold them longer against a retaliatory fire by security forces.
They were also carrying thousands of rupees in Indian currency. Wire cutter to cut fence to sneak into the army operational base and knives for close attack on army jawans were also recovered from the terrorists killed in the operation.
Notably, the attack comes a day after three LeT terrorists were neutralised by security forces in Budgam. One of the killed terrorists was involved in the killing of civilians Rahul Bhat and Amreen Bhat.
