Gun battle as militants in disputed Kashmir hit Indian army camp
Militants in disputed Kashmir attacked an Indian army camp yesterday, triggering a fierce gun battle that left 11 Indian troops and six suspected assailants dead, officials said.
An army officer said the rebels hurled grenades and fired automatic rifles as they tried to enter an artillery unit of the camp in the Uri region before dawn. Some succeeded while firing wildly, officials said.
The sprawling camp, also the regional headquarters of the army's artillery regiment, is near the heavily militarised line of control that divides the Himalayan region into an Indian-administered portion and a Pakistan-controlled side.
Eight soldiers including a lieutenant colonel and three policemen were killed on the Indian side, along with six militants, police said.
"The firing has stopped right now," the Indian police chief in Kashmir, K. Rajendra, said. "We're searching and sanitising the area and clearing any unexploded grenades hurled by militants."
None of several rebel groups active in Kashmir issued any statement about yesterday's fighting, which erupted two days after a gunbattle broke out in the neighbouring Handwara region. Six suspected rebels and one Indian army officer were killed.
Also yesterday, government forces intercepted two suspected militants on the outskirts of Srinagar, Kashmir's main city, leading to a brief exchange of gunfire, police said. One rebel was killed while the troops cordoned the area and were looking for the second suspect.
The rebel groups have been fighting against Indian rule since 1989. More than 68,000 people have been killed since 1989 in the uprising and Indian military crackdown, which also largely suppressed rebel activity.
There has been a flurry of recent attacks, however, as the region holds local elections. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited twice in the last month, and is due to return on Monday to give a campaign speech in Srinagar.
India and Pakistan have fought two of three wars since 1947 over their rival claims to the territory.
