CHANDIGARH: Four soldiers from an artillery unit were killed in a shooting incident at the Bathinda Military Station in Punjab in the wee hours, by two persons in ``kurta-pyjama’’ who had their faces covered

 “A firing incident reported around 4.35 am inside the Bathinda Military Station. Station Quick Reaction Teams were activated. The area was cordoned off and sealed,” a senior officer said.

The deceased jawans, all of an artillery unit and in their mid-20s, were asleep when they were shot dead in their barracks, located adjacent to the officers’ mess, around 4.30 am. The slain jawans were identified as Sagar Banne (25), Kamalesh R (24), Yogesh Kumar J (24) and Santosh M Nagaral (25). There was no information about the assailants till late Wednesday night: they had either ‘melted’ away in the darkness after committing the dastardly crime or had sneaked out of the camp.

In either case, there had been a glaring breach of security – the military station is not only headquarters of the 80 Medium Artillery Regiment – but also home to a large number of operational Army units and other static establishments. Incidentally, Bhatinda is just 159 km from the Punjab border. A joint investigation of Army and Punjab police was on and the initial indications were that terror angle is ruled out.

Cases of fratricide reported in the past have been sourced in disgruntled and ‘mentally depressed’ jawans, sore over denial of leave etc, manifesting their anger towards their colleagues. However, it is unusual of two jawans to act in collusion in such matters

Earlier, the Punjab Police called it a ‘fratricidal incident’. “It is not a terrorist attack, it is not an attack from outside,” Punjab’s Additional Director General of Police, SPS Parmar, said.  

Death toll rises in Sikkim accident

Dangerous avalanche in Sikkim, 6 people died, 50 tourists still trapped