After two soldiers were injured in a terror attack on Tuesday at Nagrota Army Headquarter there has been a rise in a number of soldiers injured. A total of seven has been killed in which two were officers and five were jawans.

On Tuesday, two major terror attacks were seen in which seven army personnel, including a Major, were killed. Eight other security men, including a BSF DIG, were injured before army men eliminated six heavily-armed terrorists in separate fierce encounters.

In the first incident, a group of heavily-armed terrorists wearing police uniform attacked an army unit in Nagrota which is very close to the Corps headquarters located in the outskirts of Jammu city on Tuesday morning. This led to the intense gunbattle that lasted for hours.

The terrorist even held 12 people hostage which includes soldiers, two ladies, and two children. But the army men successfully freed all the hostages, but in this process, one more officer, and two jawans were killed.

"The wives of the two army officers, who were on night duty when the encounter broke out, displayed exemplary courage as they blocked the entry of their quarters with all the household items, making it difficult for the terrorists to break into the houses," an army officer privy to the  encounter told PTI.

Manish Mehta, Defence PRO, told reporters in Jammu that "bodies of three militants were recovered from the premises and combing operations have still not concluded. The combing operations were concluded for the day on nightfall but will resume on Tuesday on daybreak."

Mehta also added that "the terrorists entered the premises disguised in police uniforms and launched into indiscriminate firing with heavy war-like ammunition."

"A group of heavily armed militants, believed to be four-to-five in number, attacked the 166 field army regiment camp in Nagrota area of Jammu today [Tuesday] morning," a police officer told IANS.

"After entering the camp, the militants fired at the Officers Mess inside the camp. Two militants were killed and three soldiers injured. Other militants are still firing inside the camp," the officer added.

"We have ordered the closure of all schools and education institutions in Nagrota tehsil in view of the terror attack," Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, Simrandeep Singh said.

The attack came around the same time when an infiltration bid was undergoing near the Chambliyal border outpost in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir, some 40 km away from Nagrota. However, any connection between the two attacks has not been confirmed as yet.

A police officer said "security forces engaged a group of infiltrators from Pakistan in a shootout near the International Border. Three militants were killed in the heavy exchange of fire during which an ammunition dump caught flames and exploded, critically injuring at least six border policemen, including an officer of the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) rank, BS Kasana. The six, including Special Operation Group Inspector Sarabjit Singh, were taken to a hospital here, a police officer said, adding their condition was serious."

BSF said, "detected suspicious movement of three persons late last night and a quick reaction team of the force swung into action, laying cordon in the area."

"On realizing that they have been trapped, the militants started firing automatic weapons and lobbing grenades on the BSF troops. Unable to move further, the militants got holed up in a nearby tubewell hut. Taking advantage of the cover, they kept firing intermittently till the day break. The area was kept under intense surveillance by the troops deployed awaiting daybreak," the BSF said in a statement.

At daybreak, the BSF personnel "made their move and with precise and stable fire, neutralized the three militants quickly," it said, adding one constable Shyamal Ahirwar sustained bullet injury in his wrist.

"Throughout the morning hours, Pakistan kept firing intermittently to provide cover to the militants", it said.

"In the ensuing events, BSF's Jammu DIG B S Kasana, Inspector Sarabjit Singh of India Reserve Battalion and constable Vaibhav of BSF sustained injuries", it said.

"All the injured were immediately evacuated to military hospital and were reported to be stable", the statement said.

"18 magazines, 25 live grenades, three IED waist belts, five chain IEDs (used to blow up railway tracks) and a wireless set were recovered from the slain terrorists. Had BSF not successfully contained and eliminated the terrorists, they could have caused massive damage in the mainland. It was only because of BSF's multi-tier security cover that this calamity was averted effectively," BSF spokesman said.

Also Read: 2 Soldiers Injured in another Terror Attack by Pakistan in Nagrota

BY M. DIVYA SRI