Militants hurling grenades stormed an army camp in Indian-administered Kashmir on Friday, killing 11 troops and police in a day of violence in the territory where local elections are being held.
Six of the attackers also died in the audacious raid on the barracks in Uri, near the heavily militarised Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan. The strongly fortified army camp, home to several hundred soldiers, lies 100 kilometres northwest of Srinagar.
A statement issued by India’s defence ministry said the ‘heavily armed and well equipped’ militants stormed the barracks in the early hours of Friday, triggering a gun battle that lasted for over six hours.
“The militants cut through a fence around the artillery camp and fired rocket-propelled grenades at the security force men in their bunkers,” an army officer said. He said six assault rifles and more than 50 magazines were recovered from the six attackers who belonged to a squad of ‘fedayeen’ – fighters ready to sacrifice themselves.
By mid-afternoon, shooting had ceased and security forces were “defusing unexploded grenades,” a police officer said.
It was the highest number of security officers killed in a single day in the state since June 2013, and came on a day of violence across Indian-administered Kashmir.
Two rebels were killed later in a gun battle in the residential outskirts of Srinagar. In Tral, south of Srinagar, a grenade lobbed at an election campaign vehicle missed its target and killed two civilian bystanders, injuring six others.
Meanwhile, a red alert was issued in New Delhi over intelligence reports of a possible terror strike, according to the Press Trust of India. Security was beefed up across the Indian capital, with SWAT personnel deployed at key installations like airports, railway stations, bus terminals, metro stations and malls, and landmark sites like the India Gate and Red Fort.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 6th, 2014.
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