Jammu: Armed security personnel during an encounter with the militants at Raj Bagh Police station, Kathua in Jammu on Friday. (Source: PTI) Jammu: Armed security personnel during an encounter with the militants at Raj Bagh Police station, Kathua in Jammu on Friday. (Source: PTI)

In the first terror attack in Jammu since the PDP-BJP government came to power, two heavily armed terrorists in Army uniform stormed a police station on the Jammu-Pathankote highway in Kathua on Friday, killing five people, before being gunned down by state police and security forces.

J&K Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said in the Assembly that “non-state actors” appeared to be responsible for the attack on Rajbagh police station. “I do not know why such incidents take place in J&K, where people have overwhelmingly participated in the democratic process recently. It appears to be the job of non-state actors who want to spoil the atmosphere in the state,” he said, adding that Pakistan, too, is facing a similar problem.

Relatives of constable Parshotam, who was killed during Friday’s attack in Jammu. (Source: Mukesh Gupta) Relatives of constable Parshotam, who was killed during Friday’s attack in Jammu. (Source: Mukesh Gupta)

The gunbattle, which lasted almost five hours, claimed the lives of two CRPF personnel, a state police constable and a civilian. Another civilian was killed by the terrorists near the International Border (IB).The CRPF men have been identified as Satish Kumar of Haryana and Suraj Mohit of Maharashtra, while the constable, Parshotam, was from Bandrore village. The civilians were Randhir Singh from Himachal Pradesh and Joginder Singh from Kathua district. Eleven others — eight CRPF personnel, two state policemen, including a deputy SP, and a civilian — were injured.

9 security personnel including seven CRPF jawans injured in "fidayeen attack" in Jammu: @HMOIndia Rajnath Singh in Lok Sabha @IndianExpress — vijaita singh (@vijaita) March 20, 2015

Kathua deputy commissioner Shahid Iqbal Chowdhary said the attack started around 6.15 am and the terrorists reached the police station in a private vehicle. Sources said the terrorists sneaked into the district from across the IB either at Bobiyan or Pansar and reached the station more than 25 km away. Sources said they did not face any resistance since over half a dozen check-posts set up on the highway after last year’s terror attack near Dayalachak had been lifted by the police. Significantly, the route taken by them to reach the national highway at Dayalachak from the IB was the same as the one used by terrorists during two previous attacks in Kathua and Samba districts in the past one-and-a-half years.

READ: Kathua terror attack will be first real test for PDP-BJP govt

The deceased and the injured CRPF personnel were a part of the 121 battalion and were permanently stationed at Rajbagh police station since February 24. This was done so that the state police could save the fuel cost of ferrying them from Lakhanpur to the station every night to patrol the area. On Friday, after patrolling the highway and nearby areas the entire night, they returned to the station around 5 am and were changing clothes when the attack took place.

The attack, which is likely to be an acid test for the PDP-BJP alliance, was the second in the past one year and the third in the past 16 months in the otherwise peaceful Kathua district. It could silence those advocating phased withdrawal of AFSPA and initiation of talks with the separatist Hurriyat Conference.

WATCH KATHUA ENCOUNTER VIDEO

The attack comes less than a week after India sent its foreign secretary to Islamabad to resume talks with Pakistan. The BSF and Pakistan Rangers had held a flag meeting at the IB in R S Pura sector on Wednesday to reiterate their focus on peace on the border. The flag meeting, held five months after heavy shelling from across the border, came on a request from Pakistan.

Elaborating on Friday’s attack, sources said it appeared that the two terrorists sneaked into Indian territory from across the IB in Kathua district. After walking some distance on foot, they hijacked a bike after killing the rider, Joginder, at Hariychak nursery. From there, they reached Chadwal, where they boarded an auto to reach the vegetable market at Dayalachak on the national highway early Friday morning. There, they tried to get a lift from some locals, who refused.

After a while, the terrorists crossed the highway and stopped a pick-up vehicle which was returning to Himachal after delivering vegetables in Jammu. They forcibly boarded the vehicle and after travelling nearly seven km, stopped outside Rajbagh police station, where they made the driver and a cleaner get down at gunpoint.

The terrorists told the policeman at sentry duty that the driver and the cleaner were criminals. They asked him to open the main gate, saying they wanted to keep the “criminals” in police custody. As soon as the sentry opened the main gate, the terrorists shot him dead and entered the station with the hostages.

Most police officials, including the SHO, were away from the station at the time. Even Parshotam, who was on sentry duty, had returned from home just half an hour earlier.

After entering the station, one of the terrorists shot at another cop and killed one of the hostages, while the other one took the stairs to reach the first floor, where CRPF personnel were preparing to sleep. However, after hearing the gunfire, a CRPF man on sentry duty on the first floor alerted his colleagues, who picked up their weapons and headed to the roof to take positions.

Meanwhile, the terrorists coming from the ground floor fired at them. As other CRPF personnel also came out of their rooms, the terrorists started hurling grenades, said Havaldar Bhagwan Dass of Bihar, one of the injured CRPF men who is currently in a government hospital in Kathua.

Dass said the CRPF men broke open a window on the first floor to evacuate their injured colleagues. Meanwhile, one of the terrorists was gunned down. The other one was kept engaged till reinforcements arrived.

The second terrorist was gunned down after a five-hour operation, during which the Army used helicopters to conduct an aerial survey of the area and pinpoint the terrorist. A police team headed by ASP Nasir Khan killed the second terrorist around 11 am.

The attack led to uproar in the Legislative Assembly, with National Conference legislator Devender Rana slamming the government for not having full details of the attack and the people who were killed.

Minister of Health and Medical Education Choudhary Lal Singh attributed the attack to a “security lapse”. Accusing police in the area “of collecting money from truck drivers plying on the highway during the night instead of staying alert to protect the lives and property of people”, he questioned how terrorists successfully entered Kathua district using the same route from the IB that had been used to carry out attacks previously as well. “The officials responsible for dereliction of duty shall not only be terminated but also sent to jail,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Army said in a statement, “Two terrorists were killed in successful and swift joint operation by Army, CRFP and JKP at Rajbagh police station. The Army deployed Quick Reaction Teams and Special Forces for the operation. Combing and sanitisation of nearby areas is in progress and the modus operandi of the terrorists is being ascertained.”

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