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Soldier, civilian killed as militants attack army camp in Kashmir

Three army personnel injured in seprate IED blast
Last Updated 21 September 2018, 11:44 IST

A soldier and a civilian were killed when militants attacked an Army camp in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district during the intervening night of Sunday and Monday.

On Monday morning in another incident three army personnel, including an officer, were injured when militants triggered an IED near water point Sugan area in neighbouring Shopian district which was followed by some firing.

Police said the militants attacked the camp of 50-Rashtriya Rifles at Kakapora in Pulwama, 26 km from here, last night in which a soldier and a civilian were seriously injured. Both were rushed to a hospital where the duo succumbed to their injuries.

Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Pulwama, Aslam Choudary while confirming the incident identified the slain civilian as Bilal Ganie, a taxi driver. Soon after the incident, the security forces launched a hunt to nab the attackers, he said.

A defence spokesperson in a statement said, “In a cowardly and provocative act of terror, terrorists carried out a stand-off attack on Kakapora Army Camp. One soldier martyred.” The militants reportedly managed to escape by using nearby orchards as a cover.

However, locals alleged that Ganie was killed after 15 to 20 minutes when army says the attack was carried on the camp. “We heard firing 15 to 20 minutes after initial gunshots at Kakapora, suggesting that army killed Bilal after the vehicle passed through the area,” a local news gathering agency GNS quoted locals as having said.

In a separate incident, on Monday morning, militants triggered an improvised explosive device (IED) when a Casper vehicle of Army's 44-Rashtriya Rifles was on patrolling duty in Sugan area of Shopian district. In this incident, three soldiers, including an officer, were injured.

The militant attacks have come at a time when state police and Home ministry officials had said that cessation of anti-militancy operations during the holy month of Ramzan is having a positive impact in Kashmir. They had also said that both militant activities and stone-throwing incidents have drastically come down after the Center announced non-initiation of combat operations (NICO) during Ramazan.

Since the NICO was announced 12-days back, militants have resorted to at least four grenade attacks, four weapon snatching bids and two ambushes on army patrols.

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(Published 28 May 2018, 02:10 IST)

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