New Delhi, August 22, 2013: On the intervening night of August 5 and 6, five Indian soldiers were killed on the Line of Control (LoC) sparking off outrage across India, a furore in Parliament, and bloody skirmishes between the Indian and Pakistani armies that have claimed several lives since. CNN-IBN has carried an exclusive detail on internal Army investigations, which says the soldiers on the ill-fated patrol were shot dead at point-blank range as they slept.
As the soldiers slept, tired from a long patrol, they were unaware that death was closing in around them. The one man they left on guard took a break to relieve himself. He came back to find his comrades executed at point blank range, some with even three bullets through the head.
Internal Army investigations into the lethal ambush that claimed the lives of five Indian soldiers earlier has pieced together the story of the cold-blooded killings that have set the Line of Control on fire.
The ill-fated patrol left Cheeta post, near the Poonch village of Khari Karmara, meaning to familiarise newly-posted soldiers with the area. They stopped at Delta Post, a post half-way to the Army’s main position at Begum. Five soldiers decided to get some sleep for the night, expecting no trouble in this normally incident-free area. Sambhaji Kute, the sole survivor, was on guard duty, but left to relieve himself with the trap closed.
"If the infiltration is on low ebb in certain areas or certain times, then the troops tend to take it easy. Therefore, you need to exercise greater supervision and greater vigilance," said military expert Mandeep Bajwa.
Experts say the return of relative peace in Kashmir may have led security personnel to be less careful than usual. Earlier this year, as a video shows, terrorists who killed eight soldiers moved about on a Srinagar street for several minutes, unchallenged after the killings.
Army headquarters in New Delhi declined to respond to multiple requests for comment from CNN-IBN, saying only that an official investigation was on.
Ever since 2008, soon after Parvez Ashfaq Kayani became Pakistan’s Army chief, skirmishes have increased steadily. In January, following the beheading of two Indian soldiers, tensions reached a new level and now, there’s fighting up and down the 740 kilometre Line of Control. It is reminiscent of the bad days before the 2003 ceasefire, when hundreds died each year in artillery fire. Now the soldiers and their families can only pray the worst isn’t yet to come.