Author:
Publication: PTI
Date: May 14, 2002
In a major terrorist attack by a
suicide squad today on an army camp and a civilian bus in Jammu Division,
34 people, most of them armymen and their family members, were killed.
Three of the five militants were
killed in retaliatory fire by security forces at the army camp at Kaluchak,
10 km from Jammu, official sources said.
The militants first attacked a bus
coming from Himachal on Jammu-Pathankot Highway killing seven passengers
and injuring several others.
They then moved on to the nearby
army camp and opened indiscriminate fire killing 22 armymen and their family
members.
A senior defence official said two
of the ultras were still holed up in the family quarters of Ratnu Check
area cantonment and "crack commandoes" were deployed to flush them out.
Commando operation had become a
necessity as the militants were attired in army fatigues and to avoid confusion
during the operation, he said.
The attack on the bus took place
between 5.30 and 6.00 a.m, the sources said adding traffic on the highway
has been suspended. The toll is likely to go up as several injured have
been rushed to hospitals in serious condition, the sources added.