3 Indian workers killed in attack on Kashmir camp

The army has since cordoned off the camp and launched a search for the gunmen

SRINAGAR: Three civilian workers were killed on Monday when unidentified militants attacked a military road construction camp in Indian Occupied Kashmir, the army said.

A spokesman said the army had launched a search for the attackers, who fled after firing at the General Reserve Engineering Force camp while the workers were sleeping.

The area has been relatively calm in recent weeks following an upsurge in cross-border firing after a deadly attack on an Indian army base in September that New Delhi blamed on militants from Pakistan.

“Terrorists fired at the camp at 1:30am and killed three casual labourers. A search operation has been launched to nab the attackers,” army spokesman Manish Mehta told AFP.

The army had since cordoned off the camp and launched a search for the gunmen, said the official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, which tracks violence, 267 people were killed in Indian Occupied Kashmir last year, the highest death toll since 2010.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2017.