Poonch terror attack: Mortal remains of soldiers reach native villages

NEW DELHI: The mortal remains of all the five soldiers who lost their lives in the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch were brought to their native villages on Saturday. An Army vehicle moving between Bhimber Gali and Poonch in the Rajouri sector was fired upon by unidentified terrorists on Thursday, the Army had earlier said. The vehicle caught fire, due to the likely use of grenades by terrorists, the army statement added.

Wife of Lance Naik Debashish Baswal, Sangeeta Baswal laid a wreath on his mortal remains, at Bhubaneswar airport.

Odisha Minister Ashok Chandra Panda, BJP leader Sambit Patra and others paid tribute to Lance Naik Debashish Baswal and laid a wreath. The mortal remains of Lance Naik Kulwant Singh were brought to his native village in Chadik village in Punjab's Moga, he met a heroic end like his father who lost his life in the Kargil conflict in 1999. People gathered to pay tribute to the soldier.

The mortal remains of slain soldier Sepoy Sewak Singh were brought to his native village in Bathinda's Talwandi Sabo sub-division.

Mortal remains of Sepoy Harkrishan Singh were brought to his native village in Gurdaspur.

Havildar Mandeep Singh's mortal remains were brought to his native village in Chankoian Kalan of Ludhiana district.

Day after the terror attack on troops in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch, claiming the lives of five soldiers, the army launched a massive operation to hunt down what it said was a group of about six to seven terrorists, who were behind this attack. "The army and security agencies have received inputs about the presence of 6-7 terrorists operating in two groups in the Rajouri-Poonch sector, near the area where the incident took place yesterday," a defence source told ANI.

"Multiple special forces teams, along with drones and surveillance helicopters, have been rushed to the area to help carry out search-and-destroy operations there," the source said. The security forces, including the army, police and intelligence agencies are coordinating the operations. As per sources, the terrorists are suspected to have been from the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).