How a stray dog helped CRPF foil Fidayeen attack on camp

It alerts two jawans who took on the attackers despite a power outage early in the morning

Tight vigil: Paramilitary troops arrive at the Sumbal camp in Bandipora district on Monday. Four militants were killed in retaliatory fire by the CRPF and the police to repel a fidayeen attack by militants .

An adopted stray dog in the CRPF’s Sumbal camp helped in thwarting a major suicide strike by four foreign terrorists early on Monday in Kashmir’s Bandipora district.

Constable K. Dinesh Raja, 25, who was manning a picket at the gates of the the 45 Battalion camp that houses hundreds of personnel,told The Hindu   that the dog started barking around 3 a.m. at the bushes after seeing some movement there. The four terrorists hiding there were killed later.

Hour-long encounter

“We heard the dog bark and suddenly a burst of fire came from across the road. It seems the terrorists panicked. Two persons were hiding in the bushes and I fired at them. My colleague Prafulla Kumar, who was manning the watchtower also fired from above. Two terrorists were injured in the first round of fire but since they had come to be killed, they charged on,” said Mr. Raja, who has been posted at the camp since December last.

CRPF commandant Iqbal Ahmad said the encounter lasted for more than an hour. The forces also had to face a power outage during the incident. “There were two more terrorists who had taken position nearby. They provided covering fire to the other two to help them storm the camp. Our Quick Reaction Team was mobilised and in the middle of the encounter, there was an electricity outage. We fired illuminating smokes so as not to lose track of the terrorists as they would have escaped taking advantage of the dark,” said Mr. Ahmad.

Mr. Kumar (25) of Munger in Bihar, who has been posted at the camp for four-and-a-half years, said since he was at a height, he could see the terrorists were barely 40-50 metres away from the camp. “The injured terrorists continued to charge towards the camp, I kept firing till they were killed,” he said.