The Army believes that Thursday’s attack on one of its posts along the Line of Control in the Poonch sector was carried out by members of Pakistan Army’s Special Service Group (SSG) and not militants.
Two Indian Army soldiers, Naik J.S. Srajerao and Sepoy M.S. Balku, were killed in the attack, while two members of the Pakistani Border Action Team (BAT) were also killed in retaliatory action.
“The timing of the attack, in the afternoon, and the equipment, such knives, they carried were clearly of regular soldiers. Untrained people generally do not attack in the afternoon. It is Pakistan rangers and the SSG who do that,” said a senior Army officer.
He said once two of the SSG members were killed, the remaining ones started firing from the other end in which the two Indian soldiers were killed. “Retaliation is not a forte of terrorists,” the officer said.
A group of BAT members on Thursday sneaked 600 metres inside the LoC and was detected by an area domination patrol team of the Army, which consisted of 10-12 soldiers. A fire-fight commenced soon in which the two Army soldiers and the two BAT members were killed. One body was recovered while the other was dragged by the retreating team to the other side. The fire-fight occurred about 200 metres from Army posts, officials said.
The SSG forms the central part of BAT, which is responsible for carrying out attacks on Indian Army posts across the LoC.
