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| India-Pakistan |
| Indian Army camp attacked in Kashmir |
| 2016-10-04 |
| NEW DELHI - Suspected militants fired on a military camp in Indian-held Kashmir late Sunday killing one trooper, two weeks after a similar deadly attack that spiked tensions between arch rivals India and Pakistan. One paramilitary officer was also injured during the firing by an unknown number of militants in Baramulla town, northwest of Srinagar. “One BSF man has been killed and another injured,” senior police superintendent of Baramulla, Imtiyaz Hussain Mir, told AFP, referring to the Border Security Force (BSF). Mir said the gunmen were not successful in breaching the perimeter of the camp, located inside the town. The Indian army said on Twitter the “incident” had been brought under control and firing had stopped, without saying whether any suspected militants had been killed or captured. “Terrorists opened fire on an army camp in Baramulla town,” Colonel Rajesh Kalia earlier told AFP. Local media quoted residents as saying that loud gunfire could be heard coming from the camp. The attack comes after India last week claimed it launched an attack across the Line of Control, prompting a furious response from Islamabad. The move followed the deadly attack on one of India’s army bases in Held Kashmir, triggering a public outcry and demands for military action. The September 18 raid on the Uri army base by militants hurling grenades left 18 Indian soldiers dead in the worst such attack in more than a decade. Islamabad has dismissed last week’s talk of surgical strikes across the heavily militarised LoC as an “illusion” and said two of its soldiers had been killed in small arms fire. According to Reuters, at least six militants attacked the Indian army camp. The attack on the camp of India’s 46 Rastriya Rifles in Baramulla, which also houses a unit of the Border Security Force (BSF), started at around 10:30 pm and repeated exchanges of fire ensued. Local reports that two attackers had been killed could not immediately be confirmed. Also on Sunday, Indian Coast Guard officials claimed to have arrested the crew members of a Pakistani boat as soon as it entered the Indian waters around 10.15 am. “In the prevailing scenario, Coast Guard ship Samudra Pavak apprehended a Pakistani boat with nine crew members,” an official statement said. According to a Pakistani private TV channel, the Foreign Office has rejected Indian claim that they have impounded a boat and arrested its crew. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India has never coveted any territory or attacked another country though it made sacrifices for the freedom of others. “...It is neither hungry for land. But in the two World Wars (in which India had no direct stake), 150,000 lakh Indian soldiers had laid down their lives,” Modi said while speaking in New Delhi. “In the last two years, you have seen how the government rescued people from conflict situations, not just Indians but foreigners too,” Modi said, apparently referring to his government’s rescue missions in trouble-torn West Asia. Indian defence minister said Delhi was working to secure the release of a soldier held in Pakistan but it will take “some days”. India says the soldier was captured Thursday after he “inadvertently” crossed over into the Pakistani side of the de facto border that divides Kashmir between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. Manohar Parrikar said the capture did not relate to the Indian military’s attack. “He had crossed over, which happens in border areas. There is a well-established mechanism through DGMO (Director General of Military Operations) which has been activated,” the minister said, according to the Press Trust of India news agency. “Since the situation is tense right now, it will take some days to bring the soldier back.” India has evacuated thousands of people near the Pakistani border in Punjab state following the military raids on militant posts, which provoked furious charges of “naked aggression” from Pakistan. Indian and Pakistani troops regularly exchange fire across the disputed border known as the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir, but sending ground troops over the line is rare. |
| Posted by:badanov |