7 soldiers killed to avenge-Guru hanging.. motive in Nagrota attack

Army personnel during a search operation in Nagrota. (PTI)

TT, Srinagar, Nov. 30: The army has recovered documents from three militants killed in the Nagrota camp attack that reveal the strike was carried out to avenge the hanging of Afzal Guru and hints at a possible Jaish role.

Sources said it was too early to confirm the hand of the Jaish-e-Mohammed in the attack. But they claimed it was likely as the documents said the "Afzal Guru squad"- a unit of the Jaish - was behind it.

"Such attacks are carried out either by Jaish or Lashkar. Investigations will reveal which of the two was involved," an officer in Jammu said.

Army chief General Dalbir Singh today met officers and jawans of the 166 Field Regiment and discussed the post-attack situation and the escalation of border tension.

Seven soldiers, including two majors, were killed in yesterday's attack in Nagrota that lasted the whole day. Three militants were eliminated.

The defence spokesperson in Jammu, Col. N.N. Joshi, said combing operations continued today. "Everything got over yesterday but combing and searches are continuing (to rule out possibility of more militants). The operation has not been called off," he said.

The army's bomb disposal squad today blasted explosives found inside the camp to sanitise the area.

Officials said the army had recovered notes written in Urdu from the slain militants which said they were " fidayeen" out to avenge Afzal Guru's death.

The Afzal Guru squad had carried out an attack in the Valley's Tangdhar area in November last year, the first in his name. Three militants involved in the attack had failed to storm the camp and were killed outside it. One civilian had died in the gunfight.

Security forces claimed that Jaish militants were using Afzal Guru's name to lure Kashmiri youths to join their ranks. The Jaish has been dormant in the Valley for years but stepped up its activities in the last year or so. It banks on foreign militants to carry out its activities, unlike the Hizb-ul Mujahideen and the Lashkar that have dozens of local recruits.

The army has, in addition to arms and ammunition, recovered Pakistan-made biscuits, medicines and wire-cutters at Nagrota.

Officials said the three slain militants seem to have sneaked in recently but it has yet to be ascertained whether they crossed the LoC in Jammu or in the Valley.

An officer said a daring army counter-offensive had helped rescue 16 soldiers and their family members from the building that was taken over by the militants. "Two women bolted the doors from inside and put hurdles in their path to prevent their entry into their rooms."

The army has released the names of the seven soldiers killed in the attack: Major Gosavi Kunal Mannadir, 33, from Maharashtra; Major Akshay Girish Kumar, 33, from Karnataka; Havildar Sukhraj Singh, 32, from Punjab; Lance Naik Kadam Sambhaji Yeshwantro, 32, from Maharashtra; Grenadier Raghvendra Singh, 28, from Rajasthan; Rifleman Asim Rai, 32, from Nepal; and Naik Chittranjan Debbarma, 37, from Tripura.