Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Nov 25: Army today eliminated three Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militants while a generator operator of Military Engineering Service (MES) was shot dead as a group of heavily armed militants attacked Army camp near Line of Control (LoC) at Tanghdar in North Kashmir’s Kupwara district today.
Two Army officers were injured in the attack and several Army barracks, vehicles and kerosene depot were gutted in the encounter that lasted several hours.
Major General Paramjit Singh, General Officer Commanding (GOC) 28 Division of Army, told reporters that Army encircled the militants by 7:30 a.m. and by 10:30 a.m., all of them were eliminated. “These terrorists had AK-47 rifles, ammunition and large number of grenades. One Army man was injured and gun battle is over but the searches are still on”, he said. The pouches recovered from them had written on them Afzal Guru Brigade.
Sources said that a group of three militants attacked Battalion headquarters of 3/1 GR at around 6 am in Tanghdar. “The attackers were dressed in Army fatigue and entered the camp by cutting the fencing wire of the camp”, they said.
“Oil depot inside the camp caught fire during the gun battle which later spread to nearby barracks gutting five of them, including a generator room. Besides, three vehicles were also gutted in the incident”, reports said.
Militants killed a local employee of MES, Tanveer Ahmad Sheikh son of Muneer Ahmad of Tanghdar, who was operating power generator inside the camp.
An Army officer, Lt Colonel SK Soul, received minor injury and was given first aid while a JCO, VK Reddy, received gunshot injuries and have been evacuated to military hospital for treatment.
The Army along with the additional reinforcement including 4-Para commandos engaged the militant group in the gun fight. The exchange of fire continued for several hours resulted into the killing of three militants.
The bodies of the militants were handed over to local Auqaf Committee for burial. The slain militants were buried in a local graveyard at Baghibila area of Jabdi in Tanghdar. While as the MES employee Tanveer Ahmad was buried at his ancestral graveyard in Tanghdar.
The search operation in the forests is going on and Army is looking for the other members of the group.
And in the meantime, Jaish Mohammad militant outfit has claimed the responsibility of the attack.
A Defence Ministry spokesman said here that in an alert and swift response to the militant strike, the Army killed three militants by foiling an attempted suicide attack.
“The militants had tried to sneak into an Army camp in the early hours today firing indiscriminately which resulted in the killing of one civilian and injuring Army personnel”, the spokesman said.
“The militants were effectively intercepted by the Army’s Quick Reaction Teams and killed them in a cordon. Three weapons have so far been recovered. Operations are in progress to fully sanitize the area,” the spokesman added.
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