The army on Monday said that it had successfully thwarted an attack on its convoy in the Sunderbani sector of Jammu, resulting in the death of a militant during a gunfight which involved the deployment of infantry combat vehicles in a counter-insurgency operation.

The area is close to the Line of Control (LoC) and the militants seem to have infiltrated recently. The army was tight-lipped about the involvement of BMP 2 light tanks, also called APC Sarath, in the operation, but eyewitnesses said four combat vehicles crossed the Tawi river in Akhnoor on Wednesday afternoon and proceeded towards the gunfight area.

The army’s Nagrota-based White Knight Corps said the militants fired “upon a convoy near Asan, Sunderbani sector, targeting army vehicles in the morning”. The incident occurred near Asan Mandir in Battal village near Akhnoor.

“Swift retaliation by own troops ensured foiling of the attempt ensuring no injuries. The area has been cordoned off and a search operation to neutralise the terrorists is ongoing,” the army said on X.

The attack took place early in the morning. In a late-afternoon update, the army said the body of one militant, along with a weapon, had been recovered. Sources said that the other militants had escaped to a nearby area and an operation was underway to nab them.

The incident assumed significance against the backdrop of reports that the army had used infantry combat vehicles to tackle militants.

A former police officer said infantry combat vehicles had probably been used only once earlier for such an operation — during the 2002 militant attack at Kaluchak in Jammu. Militants had first attacked a bus, killing seven people, before entering army quarters where they killed 23 more.

“That time the combat vehicles were present inside the camp and used. But this time they are going to an operational area, which is perhaps a first,” he said.