Target: After pilgrims, the Army

The officers were inspecting the camp, several hours after the initial attack. Brigadier V K Govil of the EME was killed when a militant, who managed to come very near him, blew himself up. A search was on for another who managed to elude the Army. Clearly, the area had not been ‘‘sanitised’’ before the commanders’ visit.

Prasad heads the Northern Command which guards the Sino-Indian border in Ladakh and a 940 km stretch of the Line of Control with Pakistan, stretching from just beyond Kargil to Chhamb sector in Jammu.

A lesser known militant outfit Al Shuhda, believed to be a shadow group of Lashkar-e-Toiba, later claimed responsibility for the attack.

Defence minister George Fernandes will fly to Jammu tomorrow to take stock of the situation. He will be visiting the EME hospital in Akhnoor where the injured are being treated.

This was the second major strike on an Army camp in recent days. On June 28, militants killed 12 Armymen when they raided the Sunjwan camp on the outskirts of Jammu city.

Today’s attack began shortly after 5 am when some militants, wearing Army uniform, got off a load carrier near the main gate of 610 EME. The two sentries at the gate had no time to react as the militants opened fire, killing them on the spot.

The militants then entered the camp and, after covering some distance, shot dead another person (the priest of a temple in the camp).Armymen rushed out, only to walk into a hail of bullets. Four more fell while six were injured.

In the hour long gun battle that followed, troops shot dead two of the fidayeen while two others apparently went into hiding. They eluded the troops who fanned out in different directions to flush them out. Around 3.45 pm when troops stopped searches in the belief that the two militants had fled, Lt Gen Prasad and other Army commanders visited the camp.

It was during the inspection when the militants emerged and hurled grenades. One managed to reach very close to the officers and then blew himself up, killing Brigadier Govil and leaving the generals injured.