Routine physical training (PT) drill attended by the young Army officers of the 16 Cavalry unit located in Samba saved lives of six young officers on Thursday as a group of fidayeen stormed their residential quarters after their barbaric ‘dance of death’ inside the officers mess.
According to official sources privy to the operational details of the attack, “after fidayeen neutralised lone ‘sentry’ stationed at one of the entry gates they lobbed grenades inside the officers mess to surprise the occupants present there. Three jawans working in the officers mess were killed in the audacious attack. Before moving inside the officers mess, which was close to the entry gate, the fidayeen killed second in command of the cavalry unit lt Col Bikramjeet Singh from point blank range. The officer was wearing PT uniform and could not react to the sudden burst of fire.
The Commanding Officer of the unit Col Avin Adhiya was also present in the vicinity. According to official sources, the CO was supervising the practice session sitting atop a tank.