news details |
|
|
| Pakistan takes advantage of unrest in Valley | | Terror hits Uri: 17 army jawans martyred | | S Tahir-ul Haq
Early Times Report
Uri (Baramulla), Sept 18: Seventeen army jawans were killed and 18 others injured Sunday in a major terror attack in Uri area of Baramulla district.
A senior army official said that at around 4:30 am, a group of heavily armed militants entered an army base and lobbed grenades and then opened indiscriminate fire, killing 17 jawans and leaving many injured.
"The terror attack was carried out in the wee hours when army personnel were sleeping in their barracks as the advance party had replaced the night patrolling party," said the official.
He said a number of barracks caught fire and when the troops were trying to come out from these barracks to save themselves they were fired upon by the militants.
"Unfortunately we have lost 17 brave jawans," the official said, adding that all the injured troops were airlifted to 92 base army hospital Badamibagh Srinagar, where 12 jawans are said to be critical.
Fifteen of the slain jawans who included a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) belonged to Bihar coy while two were from 10 Dogra regiment of the army. The militants had cut off the barbed wire and entered into 12 Brigade Headquarters of the army. Army helicopters were used to track down the hiding militants; by 9:30 am all the four militants were neutralized and the operation lasted for 5-6 hours.
Additional reinforcement was sent to the area. Commandos were also pressed into service at army base camp in Uri to counter the militants, the official said. He blamed Pakistan for the attack and said it was launched to take advantage of the ongoing unrest in Kashmir.
The army official said heavy arms and ammunitions like UBGL, AK-47 rifles, hand grenades and other war-like store was recovered from the site of encounter. All the weapons carry 'made in Pakistan' mark, said the official.
Sources said that the slain militants may have sneaked into this side of Line of Control (LoC) a few days ago back in Uri. "Militants may have taken shelter in the dense forests and took advantage of darkness due to which they got ample opportunity to strike. That is why this is the biggest terror attack in terms of casualties," sources said.
Recently, army has successfully foiled infiltration bids in various parts of north Kashmir including Uri, Tangdar and Nowgam sectors. There were 489 infiltration bids in 2011, 264 in 2012, 277 in 2013, 222 in 2014 and 121 in 2015.
On December 5, 2014, militants attacked an army convoy at Khowjabagh area of Baramulla town and Langate village of Kupwara, killing eight army men including a senior officer and three cops including an assistant sub inspector of police.
Meanwhile, a high alert has been sounded on all important places including airports across J&K in view of the Uri attack.
It is also learnt that Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
