In a fresh ambush attempt, an Army vehicle came under fire from terrorists hiding in the dense forest area of Sunderbani, Rajouri, on Wednesday afternoon. The incident occurred in Phal village, located on the Sunderbani Malla road, when one or…

Arjun Sharma

In a fresh ambush attempt, an Army vehicle came under fire from terrorists hiding in the dense forest area of Sunderbani, Rajouri, on Wednesday afternoon.

The incident occurred in Phal village, located on the Sunderbani Malla road, when one or two rounds of bullets were fired at an Army truck moving through the narrow road surrounded by a thick pine forest. The fire reportedly came from an adjacent hill as the vehicle was passing through the area.

There were no reports of injuries to the driver or any other occupant of the vehicle. While the Army did not issue an official statement about the incident, an official confirmed, “Today at 1 pm, near the water tank at village Phal, Sunderbani Malla road, one or two rounds were fired at the 9 JAK vehicle while it was patrolling the area.”

This is not the first time that Army vehicles and soldiers have been ambushed in the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch in recent years. The area where the attack took place is located relatively close to the Line of Control (LoC), which has witnessed several incidents of cross-border firing in recent months. Interestingly, troops stationed in the neighbouring Akhnoor sector also opened fire on suspicious movement during the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday.

Following the attack, reinforcements were immediately sent to the area and a search operation was launched in the surrounding forest. The CRPF and the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Jammu and Kashmir Police joined the operation, but no terrorists were found by evening.

Senior Army and police officials have made several visits to the Akhnoor sector along the LoC in recent weeks following intelligence inputs suggesting that terrorists might attempt to infiltrate into Indian Territory.

On February 21, Lt Gen MV Suchindra Kumar, GOC-in-C of Northern Command, visited the Akhnoor sector to review the operational readiness of the formation. Inspector General of Police (IGP) Jammu, Bhim Sen Tuti, also conducted a comprehensive review of the security and border management situation in the Akhnoor sub-division.