Soldier, 3 militants killed as BSF camp hit by Pak’s Jaish
SRINAGAR: A Border Security Force (BSF) officer was killed in Kashmir on Tuesday as forces foiled a militant attempt to storm a paramilitary base close to the high-security Srinagar airport, sparking an hours-long gun-battle that left all three radicals dead.
Three other security personnel sustained injuries in the attack, claimed by Pakistanbased outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), blamed for similar strikes at Indian security bases including one at Uri in September last year that killed 19 soldiers.
“All the three militants have been killed. An assistant sub-inspector of BSF also died in the initial assault,” Jammu and Kashmir police chief SP Vaid said.
Tuesday’s attack was the latest in Kashmir which has seen a spurt in militancy. Last month, India described Pakistan as “terroristan” in a fiery attack on Islamabad’s proxy war in Kashmir. The attack also came amid heightened tensions along the Line of Control (LoC), the de factor border with Pakistan.
India summoned Pakistan’s deputy high commissioner and issued a demarche over the death of three minors in “unprovoked firing” by Pakistani forces in the Poonch sector on Monday.
“503 such violations (of 2003 ceasefire understanding) have been carried out by Pakistan forces so far during 2017,” the external affairs ministry said in a statement in Delhi.
The Congress accused the BJP-led NDA government of compromising national security. Party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said Prime Minister Narendra Modi ran a high-decibel campaign in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, depicted by “56-inches chest and red eyes sloganeering” to deal with terror and security threats. “But after 40 months, our internal security situation stands gravely in peril,” he alleged.
Inspector general of police (Kashmir range) Muneer Khan admitted that “six to seven” militants of a group which infiltrated between July and August were still at large and were potential threats.
Police sources said the three slain militants were from the JeM’s ‘Afzal Guru squad’, raised by the outfit to avenge the hanging of the 2001 parliament attack convict.
On August 26, at least eight security personnel were killed in a similar attack by the JeM in Pulwama.
The attack at the BSF’s 182 battalion camp was at a highly sanitised area where an Indian Air Force base, a CRPF camp and an NIA office are located, besides the Srinagar airport.
Flights at the airport, which shares a compound wall with the base, resumed after being suspended briefly, officials said.
Sources said the militants entered the camp in army fatigue and were carrying automatic weapons and grenades.
Khan said the militants, who intruded into the camp around 4 am after cutting through the concertina wires and fence, entered two separate buildings -- the administrative block and subordinate officers mess. He said one militant was killed at the gate while two managed to get inside the camp where they were shot dead later.