Cong slams govt over terror attacks in J&K, demands answer for ‘intel failure’

PTI, Jun 19, 2019, 12:25 PM IST

New Delhi: The Congress hit out at the Centre on Wednesday over the deaths of soldiers in recent terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, saying the Modi government will have to answer for the “intelligence failure”.

Four soldiers have been killed in the last 24 hours in Jammu and Kashmir — Major Ketan Sharma, Rifleman Anil Kumar Jaswal, Havildar Amarjeet Kumar and Naik Ajit Kumar — Congress’s chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said. In all, 10 soldiers were killed over the last week, he added.

“I salute their sacrifice for the motherland,” Surjewala said in a tweet in Hindi. Two soldiers were killed and several injured in a terror attack on an Army vehicle in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama, he said.

“This is completely a big intelligence failure of the government,” the Congress leader said in another tweet. He pointed out that five jawans were killed in an attack on CRPF personnel in Anantnag last week, and asked whether any lesson was learnt.

Seven civilians were seriously injured in a terror attack on a police station in Pulwama, Surjewala said. “We have full faith in the valour of our security forces. Today itself they have killed two terrorists,” he added.

“But, the central government will have to answer for the intelligence failure. It will have to answer why are attacks taking place continuously,” the Congress leader said.

On Monday, an Army major and a militant were killed, while another officer and two troopers were injured in an encounter in Anantnag district.

On the same day in Pulwama, nine Army personnel and two civilians were injured when militants triggered a blast through an improvised explosive device (IED) fitted to a vehicle.

Two of the jawans succumbed to the injuries on Tuesday, while the others are recuperating at a hospital. At least seven civilians were injured in a grenade attack by militants on a police station in Pulwama.

Last Wednesday, a lone Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist attacked a CRPF patrol team, killing five personnel. A police officer, who reached the site shortly after the attack, was sprayed with bullets the moment he stepped out of his bullet-proof vehicle. He was flown to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, but died on Sunday.