In back to back attacks, three Army personnel including a Major were martyred, two of them in a suspected BAT strike in Lam area of Nowshera sector and another in a sniping incident in Sunderbani sector of Rajouri district, triggering fresh wave of tension on the Line of Control (LoC) as troops launched massive search operations on the LoC to thwart infiltration attempts and avenge the killings. During past few days, Pakistan army had regularly been violating ceasefire on the LoC in twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri and there had been reports that the troops from across were trying to aid and abet infiltration of the militants. Sources told the Excelsior that an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), suspected to be planted by Pakistan army’s Border Action Team (BAT), went off when an Army Gypsy moved over it at forward village of Pukharni in Lam area of Nowshera sector at 3 pm today.
This led to a powerful explosion in which four soldiers were injured. Another Army team rushed to the help of soldiers critically injured in the Gypsy and there were reports that they too stepped over another IED, planted by the BAT team, leading to one more explosion. An Army Major and a soldier were martyred and four jawans including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) were injured. The deceased Army Major has been identified as S V Nair and the soldier as Jeevan Gurang.
Injured were identified as Narinder Singh and Vir Bahadur. Re-enforcement of Army was immediately rushed to the spot and they shifted martyred and injured jawans to hospital. Later, all injured were airlifted to the Command Hospital in Udhampur. Troops immediately cordoned off entire area in Lam sector and conducted searches.
However, presence of the BAT intruders couldn’t be spotted immediately and it was believed that they might have fled back to Pakistan after planting the IEDs on Indian side of the LoC. A Defence spokesman said: “Today at about 3 pm, an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion took place near LoC in Nowshera sector in which an Army officer and a soldier got grievously injured.
