Four killed as ultras attack Army base

Three ultras and a civilian were killed while an army officer was injured when heavily armed militants attacked an army base near Line of Control (LoC) in Tanghdar sector of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Wednesday morning.

Sources told Deccan Herald that the militants attacked from the rear side of the army camp located near the LoC, from the Kulsoori ridge at around 6.15 am, which resulted in few vehicles catching fire.

With dense fog engulfing the Valley, the militants launched the audacious attack early in the morning by sneaking in near the army camp through dense forests in Darshak Forest Range, the sources said and added the militants were heavily armed.

The Army said after about seven hours of intense gun battle, three militants involved in the attack were killed. “Three militants are confirmed dead and the operation will be called off only when the entire area is sanitised,” a senior army official said, adding a civilian working for the Army was also killed in the encounter while a junior commissioned officer (JCO) was injured in the attack.

The official said three AK 47 rifles were recovered from the encounter site. However, he didn’t reveal the identity of the deceased militants.

Reports of fire and fume bellowing from the Army camp were also received as fuel depot is believed to have been hit by the fire.

Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) militant outfit claimed the responsibility for the attack saying three militants from the outfit stormed into the Army camp shortly after morning prayers.
Local news agency CNS quoting statement of spokesperson of the outfit Muhammad Hasan Shah claimed that “militants managed to inflict heavy damage on the Indian forces.”

Last year on December 5, 11 security personnel including a lieutenant colonel were killed when the militants had stormed an Army camp at Mohura, Uri in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.

The latest attack comes just a week after a colonel was killed and two soldiers sustained serious injuries in an encounter with terrorists in Kupwara district of which Tangdhar sector is a part.

Another operation is on in Rajwar forests in the same district where a lieutenant colonel and two troopers were injured early this week. Tangdhar sector is close to the LoC and has been used as an infiltration route in the past.