Close on the heels of the brutal killing of five Indian soldiers in Poonch by the Pakistan Army, its elite Special Services Group commandos assisted by a strong contingent of about 12 militants, launched a similar but more lethal attack in Mendhar sector late Wednesday night.
Sources in the home ministry, which has received intelligence reports to this effect, said the attack was similar to the one reported from Poonch sector on Monday night and the intention was to kill Indian soldiers and then facilitate the infiltration of the 12 militants across the border. The intelligence situation report has also been forwarded to the defence ministry. According to home ministry sources, the only difference from the Poonch incident was that the scale of the Mendhar attack was much severe and it was one of the biggest infiltration attempt in recent times.
It is suspect that at least 10 heavily armed SSG commandos along with 12 militants from Lashkar-e-Tayeeba and Jaish-e-Mohammed launched a brutal offensive at Indian Army patrol in the Mendhar sector on late Wednesday night. But since India security forces had taken corrective measures by deploying more armed personnel along the border, the attempt was thwarted.
Though, initially India security forces too thought that the heavy firing in Mendhar sector was part of routine border skirmish or ceasefire violation by Pakistan but as details started trickling in, it was revealed that the attack followed the same pattern of recent offensive launched by the Pak Army along with militant outfits on Indian outposts close to the LoC and international border in Jammu and Kashmir.
“We can say that the Mendhar attack on Wednesday was easily the biggest and the most dangerous of the attacks. But fortunately we had not only rushed reinforcements to LoC but they had been heavily armed too, due to which the Pak SSG commandos and the militants beat a hasty retreat,’’ a senior security official said. The Pak Army militant combination had been successful in its last two attempts causing casualty to Indian soldiers. In fact, in the January attack again in Mendhar sector, the SSG commandos had severed the head of an Indian soldiers. Highly placed Government sources revealed that it has been decided to further reinforce deployment along the LoC both in terms of men and ammunition. Border guarding security forces like the BSF and the Army have been given a free hand to even use heavy artillery.