Udhampur, June 13
At least five officers of the General Reserve Engineering Force (GREF), including one Lt-Colonel and his deputy, were killed when militants ambushed their vehicle near Singhtantop on the Kishtwar-Anatnag road today.
Reports reaching here said the officers were on their way to monitor work on the Kishtwar-Singhtantop road. As the vehicle reached Vatsar village, militants hiding by the roadside opened fire.
They also lobbed grenades on the vehicle. After firing indiscriminately for more than 20 minutes, the militants ran away. As the GREF officials were not carrying weapons, militants targeted them from virtually point-blank range.
The villagers took the injured officers to a nearby primary health centre. The police took one hour to reach the spot. Five officials were declared brought dead.
The dead Colonel has been identified as Ajay Kumar Verma of the 118 Road Construction Company, Border Roads Organisation of project BEACON, his deputy S.K. Singh, an assistant executive officer, Jatinder Kumar and Punjab Singh, jawans of the 155 Territorial Army Battalion.
Hemant Kumar Lohia, DIG, Doda-Ramban range, said police teams from Chatroo and Kishtwar had been dispatched to the site of the incident.
The bodies of two senior officers were shifted to the Chatroo hospital for a post-mortem. The other three bodies are still lying in Vatsar village.
Police parties from Anantnag have started a combing operation to track down the militants. The area has been sealed off.
