The Congress hit out at the Centre on Wednesday over thedeaths of soldiers in recent attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, saying the Modigovernment will have to answer for the “intelligence failure”.
Four soldiers have been killed in the last 24 hours in Jammuand Kashmir — Major Ketan Sharma, Rifleman Anil Kumar Jaswal, HavildarAmarjeet Kumar and Naik Ajit Kumar — Congress’s chief spokesperson RandeepSurjewala said.
In all, 10 soldiers were killed over the last week, headded. “I salute their sacrifice for the motherland,” Surjewala saidin a tweet in Hindi.
Two soldiers were killed and several injured in an attack onan Army vehicle in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama, he said. “This iscompletely a big intelligence failure of the government,” the Congressleader said in another tweet.
He pointed out that five personnel were killed in an attackon CRPF personnel in Anantnag last week, and asked whether any lesson waslearnt.
Seven civilians were seriously injured in a grenade attackon a police station in Pulwama, Surjewala said. “We have full faith in thevalour of our security forces. Today itself they have killed twomilitants,” he added.
“But, the central government will have to answer forthe intelligence failure. It will have to answer why are attacks taking placecontinuously,” the Congress leader said.
On Monday, an Army major and a militant were killed, whileanother officer and two troopers were injured in an encounter in Anantnagdistrict.
On the same day in Pulwama, nine Army personnel and twocivilians were injured when militants triggered a blast through an improvisedexplosive device (IED) fitted to a vehicle.
Two of the soldiers succumbed to the injuries on Tuesday,while the others are recuperating at a hospital.
At least seven civilians were injured in a grenade attack bymilitants on a police station in Pulwama.
Last Wednesday, a Jaish-e-Mohammed militant attacked a CRPFpatrol team, killing five personnel. A police officer, who reached the siteshortly after the attack, was sprayed with bullets the moment he stepped out ofhis bullet-proof vehicle. He was flown to the All India Institute of MedicalSciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, but died on Sunday.