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Ultras raid Army range in Himachal
Two jawans killed, four wounded
Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service

Damtal (Nurpur), January 1
Two Army personnel were killed and four others critically wounded, when militants opened fire on them at an Army firing range near Damtal on the Punjab and Himachal Pradesh border this morning.

The advance party, comprising about 25 Army personnel, was taken by surprise when the terrorists started firing upon it indiscriminately. The entire area was engulfed under a thick fog at 8.30 a.m. while six Army personnel were fixing the targets for shooting practice. The others were alighting from an Army truck when the militants, who were hiding in the dense forest, started firing from three directions.

While two soldiers, Subedar Ram Pal of Marina in Madhya Pradesh and Naik Hari Dutt Kaushal of Uttar Pradesh died on the spot, four others were seriously injured. The critically injured soldiers, Sepoy Anil Kumar, Subedar R.K. Dutta of Delhi, Subedar Sita Ram of Nagaur in Rajasthan and Havildar Durga Dutt of Pitthoragarh in Uttaranchal have been admitted to the intensive care unit of the Military Hospital, Pathankot.

According to Army sources, the militants followed the Army personnel, when they ran towards the old railway bridge for safety. The soldiers, who escaped the firing, said the three militants who ran after them were attired in olive green Army uniform, while one was wearing blue air force uniform. All three were tall, having long flowing beards, a fact confirmed by the locals who assembled on the adjoining Pathankot-Jalandhar national highway, on hearing the gun shots. The militants, whose number the Army feared could be anywhere between four and 12, fired so indiscriminately that the tyre of the three-tonne truck parked there burst.

The Army immediately cordoned off the entire Bhaderoah forest along the firing range as the militants ran back, when an alert was sounded. The Army authorities recovered a special hand grenade, 80 cartridge caps and four magazines used for AK-47, from a distance of about 15 metres from the forest. The Army authorities said the hand grenade, which had SPL-HGR-84, inscribed on it, could be China-made as these were not made in India. The Army personnel could not open fire on the militants as their weapons were still unloaded and were caught unawares.

The Army personnel, along with the Punjab police and the Himachal Pradesh police have cordoned off the entire Bhaderoah forest. The combing operation is still on to trace the militants who are suspected to be still hiding in the forest. It may be recalled that it was on December 5 last month that a similar search operation was carried out at the same site, when a local had spotted two suspected armed militants at the firing range. However, even after the ongoing combing operation, the Army and the police remained clueless about the militants.

The DIG (North), Mr Prithvi Raj, and the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, Mr Rahul Anand, rushed to the spot along with other police officials. The firing range falls between the Chakki Bridge and the Old Railway Bridge in Himachal Pradesh territory. Mr Prithvi Raj said it could not be said with certainty whether the militants came to simply recce the area on December 5 or had been hiding in the forest since then. He said the combing operation was still on as efforts were being made to arrest the militants. A search party led by the DSP, Nurpur, Mr Sanjeev Gandhi, also went to the thick forest area, where the militants were suspected to be hiding.

Though Jammu and Kashmir militants had struck in the Chamba area of the state on a number of occasions, yet this was the first terrorist strike on defence personnel in Kangra district of the state. It was on August 2, 1998, that Jammu and Kashmir militants had killed 35 labourers at Kalaban and Satrundi areas in Kehar sector of Chamba district.

Senior officials from the Army, Air Force and Punjab police and Himachal Pradesh police held a meeting to assess the situation. The police has put up barriers at all entry points at Dhangu Pir, Damtal and Nurpur, while thorough checking of all vehicles is being done throughout Kangra district. Meanwhile, the Shahpur police visited the Salli area today after the local Pradhan had reported that an unidentified person had been supplying ration to some people in the forest.

SHIMLA: Dr Suraj Bhan, Governor, and Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, have condemned the killing of two Army personnel in a terrorist attack at Dango Pir Bridge at Nurpur this morning. The Chief Minister conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families. 

Combing operations to continue
Our Correspondent

Pathankot, January 1
Even as the biggest-ever joint combing operation by the Army, Himachal Pradesh police and the Punjab police has been launched to arrest the terrorists who killed two Army men and injured four others at an Army firing range at Damtal, near here, a high-powered meeting held here today decided to start an intensive identification drive to verify the details of Kashmiris who have settled down in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.

The meeting attended by Mr Prithvi Raj, DIG, Dharamsala, and Mr Lok Nath Angra, district police chief, Gurdaspur, decided to continue the combing operation of the forest areas in Gurdaspur and Dharamsala districts of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, respectively. The meeting lasted for more than two hours.

Though the police was tight-lipped about the incident yet the top officials on condition of anonymity said the incident seemed to be handiwork of Pakistan-based Laskhar-e-Toiba or Jaish-e-Mohammad.