Captain, two soldiers killed in Kupwara suicide attack

Two militants neutralized, operation on

Three soldiers, including an officer, and two unidentified fidayeen (suicide) militants were killed in a pre-dawn attack by terrorists close to the heavily militarized Line of Control in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district during wee hours of Thursday.

Sources said that atleast three heavily armed fidayeen militants in a pre-dawn attack entered the Army’s 155 Field Regiment in Panzgam Kupwara at about 4.30 am.

Defence spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia said Tthe militants used guns and grenades to target soldiers. "They (fidayeen) tried to force their entry into the camp which was foiled" he said adding that Army lost a captain and two other soldiers. “Two militants were also killed in the gunfight,” he added.

The slain officer has been identified as Capt Ayush but the names of the two soldiers were not immediately known. Sources said five soldiers were also injured in the gun battle who were shifted to Army’s Base hospital in Srinagar.  “Army was scanning the cantonment to flush out one to two surviving fidayeen believed to be hiding there. The Army was moving slowly inside the area where militants are believed to be hiding to avoid any collateral damage on their side,” they said.

It was not immediately known how the terrorists managed to reach to the highly-fortified premises. Earlier on September 18 last year in a similar attack, four fidayeen militants of Jaish-e-Muhammad had stormed Brigade headquarters near the LoC in Uri area of north Kashmir killing 19 soldiers besides wounding 18 others.11-days later, Indian commandos in retaliation to Uri attack carried surgical strikes on terror launch pads across the LoC in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir.

While no militant organization had so far claimed responsibility for the latest attack, police sources said, Jaish-e-Mohammad, a Pakistan-based terror outfit led by Masood Azhar, is believed to be the prime suspect. India has been making attempts to Azhar him declared as an international terrorist by the UN. However, Indian attempts have been so far thwarted by China.