Poonch (Jammu and Kashmir): Army has detained some locals in connection with the killing of five Army soldiers during an ambush by the militants in Dera ki Gali area of Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, sources said. Sources said that the locals, the number of whom was not immediately known were detained by the Army for questioning in the case.
The identity of the detainees was not immediately known. It was not also clear whether any of them was officially arrested by the police. Videos of the detentions showed the Army soldiers bundling the locals including an elderly into a vehicle for questioning. At least five soldiers were killed while two others were injured after two army vehicles carrying personnel to the site of a cordon-and-search operation came under attack at a blind curve at Dhatyar Morh between Dhera Ki Gali and Bufliaz under the jurisdiction of the Surankote police station in Poonch at around 3:45 pm on Thursday.
The heavily-armed militants, believed to three to four in number, are said to have taken position on hill tops and chose a blind curve to target the army vehicles. Reports said that the militants mutilated the bodies of at least two soldiers and have taken weapons of some of them. The security officials say that investigation of site is being carried out to know the pattern and use of weapons including steel core bullets in the ambush.