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By India Today News Desk: A village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch has decided to give Eid celebrations a miss this year. And this is because of the terror attack in which five soldiers were killed.
Sticky bombs and steel bullets were used in Thursday’s terror attack in which five Army jawans were killed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch, sources told India Today.
Terrorists fired upon an Army vehicle, taking advantage of the heavy rain and low visibility in the area, the Northern Command said. The jawans killed in the firing were from the Rashtriya Rifles Unit and were deployed for counter-terrorism operations in the area.
Images of the attack showed an Army vehicle in flames. Photos, clicked after the fire, also showed fruit in the truck. The fruits were part of food items being taken to Sangiote village in Poonch district for Thursday evening’s iftar.
A pall of gloom has descended on Sangiote, a village of about 4,000 residents. And villagers have said they would not be celebrating Eid with the traditional fervour and gaiety.
Invitations had gone out to several people in the village for the event at 7 pm on Thursday, and the arrangements for iftar were being made by the Rashtriya Rifles unit, according to an Indian Express report.
The truck, that was ambushed by terrorists, was carrying materials from the Rashtriya Rifles headquarters at Basooni in Balakote. The personnel picked up more items from Bhimber Gali area, where the Rashtriya Rifles has a significant presence, the report said.
But just about 8km short of its destination, Sangiote village, the Rashtriya Rifles truck was abushed by terrorists.
“Villagers of will not celebrate Eid on Saturday. We’ll only offer namaz,” sarpanch of the Sangiote panchayat, Mukhtiaz Khan, was quoted by the Indian Express as saying. “The deceased were part of the Rashtriya Rifles unit deployed in our village and our thoughts are with their families,” Khan added.
According to defence sources, seven terrorists belonging to two groups were involved in the terror attack.
A massive search operation by the Army, state police and paramilitary forces was underway to hunt down the terrorists involved in the attack. About 2,000 commandos were deployed for a search operation.
The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has shared a report with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Investigation Agency (NIA), in connection with the attack.
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