lieutenant colonel among seventeen dead in attack on Army : Kashmir
Three days ahead of the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the contested Kashmir region, a group of rebels stormed an army base in a northern border town killing eleven government forces. Six militants were also killed and the operation has ended while searches are continuing in the region, an army officer said.
At least eight Indian army troops including a lieutenant colonel and a junior commanding officer, three policemen were killed after a group of six ultras carried out a fidayeen attack on 31-Field Regiment in Mohura area in Uri of Baramulla district in north Kashmir at about 3.30 am. The region borders the Line of Control that divides disputed Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
The militants in the pre-dawn hours attacked the main gate of the army base with several grenade and intense gunfire. Sources in government forces said that four army troopers were killed in the initial attack. “The sentries on duty heard the gunshots and challenged the rebels who were armed with automatic weapons and hand grenades,” said a senior officer of the police’s counter-insurgency group.
The sound of blasts and gunfire created panic and local police rushed to the spot but also came under a barrage of gunfire and grenades from the ultras. Two policemen died in the attack while as a police officer suffered critical injuries and was airlifted to a hospital where he passed away. The three policemen who were killed were identified as Assistant Sub Inspector Muhammad Akbar, constable Sanjay Kumar and head constable Abdul Majid.
A senior Indian army officer who commanded the operation said they had launched a combing operation in and around the camp to flush out the remaining militants if there were any.
Many army soldiers received burn injuries after they got trapped in a barrack that caught fire due to militant attack. Besides, two policemen were also injured who have been hospitalized including Station House Officer Uri, Lateef Durani. “The helicopters were pressed into the service,” sources said. The authorities had closed Uri-Baramulla road and sealed a vast area.
“But the way these ultras, believed to be from Pakistan, killed four security personnel on the road outside our Army camp makes us believe that they entered the camp from the gate through the road which is not made of concrete boundary,” the senior army officer said.
The troopers from the neighbouring camps immediately mobilized their Quick Reaction Teams (QRTs), which rushed to spot.
“The encounter between the Army and the group of militants lasted for six hours. During the initial part of the Operation, one militant opened fire on the vehicles of the QRT of the neighbouring unit rushing to the site, in which one gypsy skidded off the road and overturned, leading to casualties among the security forces. The militant was immediately killed by the troops of the QRT and his body was recovered,” a defence spokesperson said.
However a police official told Kashmir Dispatch that “Quick Response Teams (QRTs) were rushed to the site after the militants attacked the camp. The militants opened fire at one of the QRT vehicles on the main road, killing an officer and two soldiers,” a police officer told Kashmir Dispatch.
“Lt Colonel Sankalp Kumar of 24 Punjab Regiment of Raipur was also killed in the exchange of fire besides three other soldiers who were part of QRT,” sources said.
A senior counter-insurgency police officer told Kashmir Dispatch that the group may have recently crossed over to this side of Kashmir and divided themselves into two groups. “While one group entered the Army camp, other engaged the troops at the gate,” he said.
“The infiltrators used small arms and followed it with UBGL fire,” an Army officer said.
Army said that six AK rifles with 55 Magazines, two shotguns, 2 Night Vision Binoculars, 4 Radio Sets, 32 unused Grenades, 1 Medical Kit and a large quantity of miscellaneous warlike stores were recovered from the slain militants.
Police have already intensified random search of vehicles following intelligence inputs that militants might carry out a suicide attack in the city ahead of the elections and the scheduled rally of the Prime Minister on Monday.
Inspector general of police Kashmir Abdul Gani Mir, while confirming the death of militants and policemen, said seventeen persons died in the attack.
There are differing accounts of whether the militants managed to enter the army camp. An officer said that they did enter, but the attack was repulsed, while another said that the gunfight was confined to the main gate of the camp.
The gun battle was now over, the senior police officer said.
He said that the troopers who took on the rebels were killed outside the camp.
The bodies of six militants too have been found.
Modi is to address an election rally in Srinagar Monday. The state is in the midst of the five-phase assembly elections, with the next phase scheduled for Dec 9. The polls began Nov 25 and end Dec 20, with the vote count to be held Dec 23.
The initial two rounds of balloting in the violence-ridden state have seen heavy voter turnout, which has been described as a victory for democracy and the people’s answer to militants’ bullets. The terrorists have struck four days ahead of the third round of voting.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the terror attacks Friday “once again show the desperate levels militants will go to to disrupt peace and normalcy”.
He described it as “a terrible day” and said in a tweet: “Four attacks and a number of deaths – security forces & innocent civilians killed in the valley today.”
