The two terrorists who fired inside a border village in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district were killed by security forces on Wednesday. A CRPF soldier lost his life during the operation. However, the terror attack could have resulted in massive civilian casualties had the terrorists not asked the villagers for water.
The CRPF, Army and the police killed the second terrorist who was holed up near Kathua's Saida village on Wednesday noon. At 3 am, he had killed a CRPF jawan after he tried to break the cordon of the security forces by indiscriminately firing at them.
During the operation, official vehicles of Deputy Inspector General of Police, Jammu-Samba-Kathua range, Sunil Gupta and Senior Superintendent of Police, Kathua, Anayat Ali Choudhary, were hit by several bullets but the officers escaped unhurt.
Additional Director General of Police (Jammu zone), Anand Jain revealed that the two terrorists had entered the village at 8 pm on Tuesday. They knocked on the doors of a house seeking water. The occupants got frightened and informed the police.
Seeing the police, one of the terrorists tried to throw a grenade at the team but was instantly killed.
{{/usCountry}}Seeing the police, one of the terrorists tried to throw a grenade at the team but was instantly killed.
{{/usCountry}}"They asked for water from a few houses to which villagers grew suspicious and slammed the doors on them and a few raised hue and cry. The terrorists panicked and fired randomly in the air and also at one odd villager who was passing by," a senior official said in a statement.
Meanwhile, a villager claimed his quick thinking and action averted a potential tragedy.
Surinder, an eyewitness, said he raised an alarm in the village about the terrorists.
“Many children were playing, and people were out walking. They could have easily killed 15 to 20 people, mostly children. People were heading to Satsang in the evening. It could have been catastrophic,” the man told PTI.
"It was around 7:30 to 7:45 pm. I was on my bike when a child informed me about two armed youths in the village. I saw them dressed in black with AK rifles, calling me to approach them. I suspected they were terrorists and warned the villagers, leading them to rush home. Shops closed and vehicles stopped," he told PTI.
The attack comes days after terrorists killed nine people and injured 41 as they attacked a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims from Shiv Khoura to Katra.