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Suspected terrorists attack army post in Poonch’s Surankote with grenades, no injuries
Soon after the grenade attack, forces launched a search operation to track down the terrorists; during searches, the safety pin of the exploded grenade was found near the perimeter wall of the army camp
Suspected terrorists attacked an army post with two grenades in Poonch district’s Surankote late Tuesday. However, no injuries were reported in the abortive bid on the army post.
While police have called it a “mysterious blast”, the army is yet to issue a statement on the incident.
“The attack happened at an army post behind the army camp in the Surankote area. Out of the two grenades, one exploded while the other was defused by the bomb disposal squad on Wednesday,” intelligence sources said.
Soon after the grenade attack, forces launched a search operation to track down the terrorists. During searches, the safety pin of the exploded grenade was found near the perimeter wall of the army camp.
Officials said a massive search operation was launched by the army and police in the area to track down the terrorists, who fled after the attack.
They said there was a mysterious blast around 10.20 pm on Tuesday near the army post, adding, “The sound of the blast was heard near the Army 16 RR Town Company in Surankote. The Army’s 16 RR, 6 Para, and SOG Surankote immediately cordoned off the area and initiated a search operation.”
On Wednesday morning, the army along with SOG resumed searches and found that suspected terrorists had lobbed two grenades at the back side of the army post.
“One grenade exploded near the perimeter wall of the army camp while the other grenade didn’t. Pin along with the cap of the exploded grenade was recovered around 10 metres from the perimeter wall which is around 8 feet high and further fortified with concertina wire. The other grenade with its pin stuck with the lever was found from the area,” they said.
The abortive attack comes at a time when security forces have started aggressive counter insurgency operations against terrorists, over-ground workers and terror sympathisers.
The large-scale operations resulted in the arrest of several over-ground workers and terror suspects, along with the recovery of incriminating materials, including electronic devices, documents, unaccounted cash, weapons and ammunition.
The majority of these terrorist attacks have been reported in the Jammu division, including districts of Poonch, Rajouri, Doda, Kathua, Kishtwar, Reasi and Udhampur.
On October 19, the additional director general of police, Anand Jain had claimed that the police have solved several grenade attack cases in Poonch with the arrest of two terrorists of the Jammu and Kashmir Ghaznavi Force (JKGF).
The arrested terrorists were identified as Abdul Aziz and Munawar Hussain of Hari village.
“For the past one year, there have been grenade attacks on a temple, an army location, a gurdwara and a hospital in Poonch with an attempt to vitiate communal harmony in Poonch,” Jain had said.
He informed that there was a sinister design to disturb peace in the society and pointed out that anti-national posters pasted at different locations in the past one year was part of the conspiracy to create fear among the people.
“With the arrest of two terrorists, all cases of grenade attacks in Poonch in the past one year have been worked out. However, the angle of funding is being probed and we are getting inputs of their contacts across the LoC. Their arrest is a big success for security forces,” the ADGP said.
Aziz was involved in lobbing grenades at the Shiv temple in Surankote on November 15 last year; Gurdwara Mahant Sahib in Poonch on March 26; Army sentry post in Kamsar, Poonch in June; and a school ground near CRPF sentry post on August 14.
Hussain lobbed a grenade near district hospital quarters on July 18.
The duo had also pasted anti-national posters at different locations in Surankote, including government high school in Hari, Dhundak, Sanai, Eidgah-Hari and other adjoining areas. These posters were printed at Hussain’s house and pasted in August last year on the directions of their handler to create fear among the public, police said.
On September 12, another member of this module, Mohammad Shabir, a resident of Daryala, was arrested with a large quantity of explosives. Aziz had supplied the explosives to Shabir.
