BSF jawan killed in militant attack on army camp in Kashmir’s Baramulla

[Era]

At least six militants attacked an army camp in north Kashmir on Sunday night, killing one jawan and wounding another, two weeks after a similar attack killed 19 soldiers and ratcheted up tensions between India and Pakistan.

The attack on the 46 Rashtriya Rifles camp in Janbazpora on the outskirts of Baramulla city, 54 km from capital Srinagar, started at around 10:30 pm and repeated exchanges of fire ensued.

The assailants tried to enter through a public park near the camp, but were stopped. They then took positions on the banks of the Jhelum river, the Baramulla police control room said.


“Militants fired at the RR camp in Janbazpora area of Baramulla town late tonight... at the outpost of the camp that is manned by the BSF (Border Security Force) troopers. A gunfight started after the militants’ firing was retaliated,” a senior police officer told IANS over the phone from Baramulla town.


During the firing, two BSF jawans were injured and rushed to a nearby hospital, officials told PTI. One of them succumbed to his injuries on the operation table.

Personnel of the border guarding force, BSF, which is under the operational command of the army in the area, stay in the camp along with soldiers.

Combing and search operations were carried out after the firing stopped, inspector general of police (Kashmir range) Javeed Mujtaba Gilani said.


There were reports that two militants were also killed in the gunfight, but Hindustan Times could not independently verify the same.

Ceasefire violation

In a separate incident, the Pakistan Army opened fire on Indian posts in the Akhnoor sector.

Pakistan is often accused of firing at Indian posts to give cover to infiltrators.

The firing violates the 2003 ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan along the international border and the Line of Control — the de-facto border that divides Jammu and Kashmir between the two neighbours.

The border skirmish comes at a time when New Delhi and Islamabad are locked in a bitter diplomatic war of words following the Uri terror attack , in which heavily armed militants, believed to be of Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad, stormed an army base in Kashmir, killing 19 soldiers.

Relations between the two countries have been fraught with tension since the Indian Army carried out surgical strikes across the Line of Control in response to the Uri terror attack.

 

[Jaswinder Singh Baidwan]

2 terrorists, 1 BSF man killed in attack on army, BSF camps in Baramulla

At least two terrorists and a Border Security Force personnel were killed while one BSF jawan was injured when militants attacked two adjoining camps of army and the paramilitary force at Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir.

The heavily-armed terrorists attacked the two camps belonging to Rashtriya Rifles and Border Security Force late Sunday night, leading to a fierce gun-battle with the security forces.

Following the firefight, two terrorists were killed by the forces while one BSF personnel, who was hit by bullets, succumbed to his injuries later, a home ministry spokesperson said in New Delhi.

The martyred jawan has been indentified as Constable Nitin while the injured personnel is Constable Pulwinder. Both belong to the 40th battalion of the BSF, officials said.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval discussed the incident and necessary instructions have been given to the forces.

Singh also spoke to Director General of BSF K K Sharma and asked him to provide all possible treatment to the injured jawan.

This was the first major attack on security forces by terrorists after the Indian Army launched surgical strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan occupied Kashmir last week.

The attack comes despite intelligence inputs about possible terrorist attacks on security installations in Jammu and Kashmir following the operations in PoK on September 29.

The strike comes exactly a fortnight after terrorists struck at army brigade headquarters at Uri, killing 19 soldiers.

Meanwhile, BSF personnel opened fire after spotting suspicious movement along the International Border late Sunday night in Punjab.

A spokesman of the BSF on Monday said the personnel were deployed on the Chakkri Border Out Post in Gurdaspur sector when they saw some suspicious movement across the border and fired four shots in the air.

Later, it was found that the movement was that of stray animals, BSF said.

However, there was no cross fire from the Pakistani Rangers, he said.