Residents of Sangiote village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district will not celebrate Eid on Saturday. The village was the destination of the ill-fated Army truck that was ambushed on Thursday, leaving five soldiers dead. The vehicle was carrying fruits and other items for an iftar gathering meant to be held in Sagiote later that evening.

According to locals, invitations had gone out to several people in the village of 4,000 for the 7 pm event, and arrangements were being taken care of by the Rashtriya Rifles unit.

The truck was carrying materials from the RR headquarters at Basooni in Balakote, and had picked up more items en route from Bhimber Gali area, where the RR has a significant presence owing to movement of Army convoys between Poonch and Rajouri.

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Around 3 pm, when the loaded vehicle crossed Tota Gali, and was just 7-8 km short of its destination, unidentified terrorists who had already laid an ambush attacked it from multiple sides.

When Army troops and villagers from nearby Bhatta Durian reached the spot soon after the attack, what they found were the charred bodies of five soldiers, a sixth in a critical condition, and damaged fruits and edibles strewn around.

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Sarpanch of the Sangiote panchayat, Mukhtiaz Khan, said he was among those invited for the iftar. He said on Friday: “Kya iftar jab hamare paanch jawan uss unfortunate haadse mein shaheed ho gaye (what iftar fast when five of our soldiers were martyred in that unfortunate incident).”

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“As soon as we got information about the terror attack from social media groups, a pall of gloom descended on the village,” he said, adding that “we too wanted to go there”, but the police and Army had cordoned off the area by then.

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“The villagers will not celebrate Eid on Saturday; we’ll only offer namaz,” he said. “The deceased were part of the RR unit deployed in our village and our thoughts are with their families.”

© The Indian Express (P) Ltd