The hunt is on to nab two unidentified attackers after they allegedly shot dead four Indian Army soldiers in the wee hours of Wednesday (12 April) inside Punjab’s Bathinda military station.

The Punjab Police have ruled out a terror angle in the firing incident and suspect it to be a case of fratricide.

What does the term mean? What do we know about the Bathinda military station firing, the victims and the assailants? Let’s take a closer look.

What is fratricide?

Fratricide refers to killing one’s sibling. It is also used to describe the act of accidentally or intentionally murdering coworkers or friends in one’s own military troops.

Bathinda military station firing

According to the FIR filed by Major Ashutosh Shukla of 80 Medium Regiment of Artillery, the four Army soldiers were sleeping in a barrack near the officers’ mess when the incident took place.

He further said in his complaint to the Punjab Police that these jawans were sleeping in pairs in two rooms after finishing their night duty on Tuesday, reported Indian Express.

As per a statement by South Western Command of the Indian Army, the four jawans, identified as Sagar Banne (25), Yogesh Kumar J (24), Santosh M Nagaral (25) and Kamalesh R (24), succumbed to gunshot injuries during the incident.

Two soldiers were from Karnataka and the other two hailed from Tamil Nadu, reported The Tribune. 

“It has been ascertained that in the unfortunate incident, four Army jawans of an artillery unit succumbed to gunshot injuries sustained during the incident. No other injuries to personnel or loss-damage to property have been reported,” the Army said in the statement, as per The Hindu.

Major Shukla said in the FIR that he was informed about the firing incident by another soldier of the unit at around 4.30 am.

A defence source told Reuters on the condition of anonymity that there was no exchange of fire after the incident and the base was cordoned off to search for the assailants.

As per BBC, Bathinda military station is a vital base for Indian Army units in Punjab and parts of neighbouring Rajasthan. Its location is also crucial as it is situated 100 km east of Punjab’s border with Pakistan. 

Bathinda houses the headquarters of 10 Corps, which is a part of the South Western Command.

Masked attackers in plain clothes

As per the complaint by Major Shukla, the two alleged assailants were wearing kurta-pyjamas and their faces were covered with cloth.

He said these unidentified persons were of “medium height and good build”. While one was carrying an INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) assault rifle, another one had an axe, The Quint reported citing the FIR.

Major Shukla said that the two attackers fled the spot after seeing him and ran to an adjacent forest near the barracks.

As per the FIR, the bodies of the four jawans were riddled with bullets and empty shells of the INSAS rifle were found on the ground.

The missing rifle

An INSAS service rifle with 28 rounds of ammunition had gone missing from the unit on 9 April, just days before the shooting incident.

The Indian Army said Wednesday it has located the assault rifle along with its magazine, which they believe might have been used to kill the four jawans. The statement also said a forensic analysis of the weapon would reveal further details.

“A search team has located the INSAS rifle along with the magazine. Army and Police joint teams will now be undertaking forensic analysis of the weapon for ascertaining further details. The balance number of rounds in the weapon will only be available after forensic analysis,” the South Western Command’s statement said.

“The attackers had only one rifle. The weapon carried by the other attacker is still being investigated,” Ajay Gandhi, Bathinda superintendent of police (Investigation) heading the probe, told Reuters on phone.

Gandhi also told reporters that 19 empty shells were recovered from the spot which are believed to be from the stolen INSAS rifle.

The SP said, according to eyewitnesses, two people in civilian dress had opened fire.

Was it ‘fratricide’?

Denying a terror angle in the firing, Bathinda’s senior superintendent of police (SSP) Gulneet Khurana said on Wednesday evening: “As per the information we have gathered so far, it is clear that it is not a terrorist act.”

According to The Tribune, Khurana said earlier in the day that it appeared to be an “internal” issue. “It appears to be fratricidal issue. Our investigation teams have reached inside (military station) with all forensic equipment and they are conducting investigations. In-depth investigations are going on.”

Punjab’s additional director general of police Surinderpal Singh Parmar said the incident could be “an internal issue, not anything from outside, but everything is being looked into”.

Incidents of fratricide in armed forces

According to an Indian Express report, 29 military personnel have been killed by their colleagues in the last five years.

From 2018 to 2022, “fifteen incidents have been reported from the CRPF, nine incidents from BSF, two from CISF, one incident each from ITBP, SSB and AR,” Union minister of state (MoS) for home affairs Nityanand Rai told the Lok Sabha in early April.

He also listed down the causative factors in most cases of fratricide in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), which included personal and domestic problems, family issues, depression and work-related reasons.

When work-related stress gets combined with domestic issues, some army personnel who already work under duress may snap.

“When some vulnerable soldiers then get into fights with their colleagues and lose their temper, they might use their weapons on them,” retired Major General Afsar Kareem had told Scroll in 2014.

As per India Today, MoS Defence Ajay Bhatt told Lok Sabha in response to a question earlier on the issue: “The government has taken several steps towards stress amelioration amongst troops, which, inter-alia, include deployment of trained psychological counsellors, improvement in the quality of food and clothing, training in stress management, provision of recreational facilities, buddy system, leave concessions, approachability of seniors, facilities for movement of troops from border areas and establishing a grievance redressal mechanism at various levels, etc.”

With inputs from agencies

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