Headlines
Army camp attacked in Kashmir, both terrorists killed
Two guerrillas attacked an army camp in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba
district on Saturday but were gunned down by the security forces.
Without naming Pakistan, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said such
attempts show the neighbouring country's "desperation".
A pilgrim
sustained injuries during the attack at the Mesar army camp, but the
army said he had hit his head in panic and there was no gunshot injury.
The army said both the guerrillas involved in the attack were killed although a search was still on in the area.
The
brigade commander of the area, Brigadier B.S. Rana, told mediapersons
that two terrorists wearing paramilitary fatigues lobbed grenades and
fired from automatic weapons at the camp of the 82 Field Armoured
Regiment in Samba district early on Saturday morning.
The terrorists attacked the camp around 5.50 a.m., and the operation launched against them was completed in six hours.
"The
alert guards at the camp retaliated promptly, thereby thwarting the
terrorists' attempt to enter the camp. Both the terrorists have been
gunned down. Firing has stopped, but a search operation is still going
on in the area," Brigadier Rana said.
According to sources, the first terrorist was killed around 10.30 a.m., while the second was killed around 1 p.m.
The
army did not confirm injuries to any of its soldiers although reports
from the gunfight site earlier said two soldiers had sustained minor
injuries during the operation against the guerrillas.
The injured
pilgrim -- identified as Pappu, son of Mahadev Prasad of Ferozabad in
Uttar Pradesh -- was on his way to the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra
town of Reasi district, police said.
He was taken to the Samba
district hospital, where doctors referred him to the government medical
college and hospital in Jammu city.
The army camp is 40 km from Jammu city on the strategic Jammu-Pathankot national highway.
Traffic on the highway was suspended and all schools in Samba and Kathua districts of Jammu region were shut.
All exams scheduled in these two districts were postponed.
The 82 field armoured regiment comes under the 9th Corps headquartered at Yule camp in Dharamsala, Himachel Pradesh.
The
camp was also attacked by guerrillas on September 26, 2013, after an
attack on that day at the Hiranagar police station in Kathua district
that killed 12 people.
Saturday's attack comes a day after
guerrillas attacked the Rajbagh police station in Kathua district. Six
people -- two terrorists, two paramilitary troopers, a policeman and a
civilian -- were killed in Friday's attack.
Intelligence sources in Jammu said the two militants had escaped during Friday's attack.
The two slain guerrillas were also wearing paramilitary fatigues on Friday.
Meanwhile
in New Delhi, Defence Minister Parrikar on Saturday said that "when the
morale of the opponents is down, they make such attempts to boost it".
Parrikar
said intelligence has improved over time and this year, the security
forces have killed 26 terrorists so far, with lesser number of
casualties on the Indian side.
"With such low loss, we inflict pain on the other side," he told reporters on the sidelines of a function.
"This is the best figure in many years. On the army side of the LoC (Line of Control), exchange of fires is also low," he said.
Without naming the country, the minister indicated that these attempts show desperation on Pakistan's side.
Parrikar
argued that since the region "is not uniform area", terrorists could
infiltrate using the nullahs, adding that water bodies make infiltration
easy.