The soldier is the fifth personnel to have died at the military station in the last 24 hours.
New Delhi:
A soldier has been reported dead in a military station in Punjab’s Bathinda, the Army said today, adding that the incident has “no connection” with yesterday’s shooting at the same army base that left four soldiers dead.
The soldier, who was in his 20s, appears to have died by suicide, it said. Army sources indicate that he was part of a different unit stationed at the Bathinda military station.
“A soldier died of a gunshot wound at approximately 4:30 PM on 12 April 2023 at Bathinda Military Station. The soldier was on sentry duty with his service weapon. The weapon and cartridge case from the same weapon was found next to the soldier. The gunshot wound was near the right temporal region. He was immediately evacuated to the Military Hospital, but succumbed to his injuries, The soldier had returned from leave on 11 April 2023. The case purportedly seems to be of attempted suicide. There is NO connection whatsoever with the incident that took place at 04:30 AM at Bathinda Military Station,” the statement released to the media said.
The soldier is the fifth personnel to have died at the military station in the last 24 hours.
On Wednesday morning, four soldiers from the artillery unit were killed in an incident of firing inside the military station. The soldiers, in their mid-20s, are believed to have been asleep when the incident happened.
An FIR filed by the Army in connection with this first incident says that an eye-witness spotted unidentified men wearing kurta pyjamas near the site of the attack. One of the men spotted had an INSAS rifle, while the other had an axe in their hands. The men who were spotted were of medium height and fled towards a forested area nearby.
More than 24 hours since this first incident, the attackers have still not been apprehended.
