NEW DELHI: On Friday, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) paid a visit to the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, the site of an encounter that resulted in the deaths of four Indian soldiers and the injuries of three others. It has been learned that a specialised team from the Central agency, headed by a Deputy Inspector General and a rank officer in the Superintendent of Police department, will be keeping an eye on the results of the site visit. Whether or not the case is turned over to the agency, the NIA suo motto chooses to send its team to the crime scene if it discovers any terror angle.Following a gunfight with terrorists in Poonch district that resulted in the deaths of four Indian Army soldiers and the injuries of three more, the agency made the decision to visit the location in order to gather comprehensive input. Two Army vehicles were ambushed by heavily armed terrorists earlier on Thursday evening in the Rajouri district’s Dera ki Gali forest, resulting in the deaths of four Army personnel and the injuries of three others. In Thanamandi, Rajouri, the terrorists ambushed two Army vehicles transporting soldiers. At 3:45 pm on Thursday, terrorists opened fire on two army vehicles that were travelling through Dera Ki Gali in the Poonch area of Rajouri. This was the beginning of the encounter.In the Dera ki Gali forest, security personnel are conducting a search and rescue operation. The Jammu and Kashmir Kokernag encounter case, in which a colonel, a major, and a soldier from the Indian Army were martyred, along with a DySP of the J&K Police and Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Uzair Khan, happened in the Anantnag district in September of this year, was recently taken over by the NIA. On September 13, at the Gadole Forest of Kokernag in the Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, trooper Pardeep Singh, Jammu and Kashmir Police Deputy Superintendent of Police Humayun Bhat, company commander Major Ashish Dhonchak, and 19 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) Commanding Officer Col Manpreet Singh were among the casualties for the Indian Army. September 19 marked the completion of the six-day operation.
