Nagrota attackers killed sentry with silencer-fitted weapon

Terrorists, who stormed the army camp at Nagrota in Jammu region on November 29, used a silencer-fitted weapon to kill a sentry before gaining entry into the premises, a tactic adopted by ‘fidayeen’ (suicide attackers) for the first time in the troubled state.

After sneaking into the camp from the rear side, which had thick vegetation that provided natural cover of elephant grass, one of the terrorists fired at the sentry using a silencer-fitted weapon, official sources said.

As someone noticed the fall of the sentry, panic gripped the army camp, which houses an artillery unit having presence of families of soldiers. Soon firing erupted.

The sources said night illuminators were fired to locate the terrorists who had by then taken entered an adjacent two-storey building where families of soldiers were staying.

Anticipating a hostage-like situation, the army troops, with the help of para-commandos, rescued the women and children first before launching a final onslaught on the terrorists.

Drones were pressed into the service which helped the snipers eliminate the terrorists inside the camp, the sources said.

Seven army personnel, including two officers, were killed in the attack by the three terrorists, who were also eliminated in the counteroffensive which lasted nearly four hours.

Seeking to join the dots related to the attack, multiple security agencies have indicated that three attackers had infiltrated into India from across the international border at Hiranagar in Kathua district of Jammu region.

The security agencies had recovered an iCom wireless set near a tree in Hirnagar that matched the frequency of the sets carried by the terrorists, sources said.

Not ruling out the possibility of local assistance being provided to the terrorists, sources said they had possibly entered into India on the night of November 28-29 and travelled a distance of 78 km to the army camp using a well connected national highway before mounting the assault in the morning.

Initially it was speculated that the terrorists could have travelled to the army camp from Kashmir, a possibility that was rejected after the vehicular movement was scrutinized from the CCTVs installed at vantage points along the national highway linking the Valley to the rest of the country.

There were some intelligence leads suggesting that a sympathiser from Poonch had ferried the terrorists to the army camp, they said.

Border Security Forces officials had initially rejected suggestions that terrorists entered through the international border but after the recovery of the wireless set, they started their internal probe.

The case is now being probed by National Investigation Agency.

Representative image. Photograph: PTI Photo