In the line of fire: When Army braved militants in J&K, Defence Minister attended lit fest in Goa
New Delhi: Newly-appointed Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar drew criticism for attending a literature festival in Goa, while Army and police personnel braved militants in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday.
Kashmir Valley was rocked by four terror attacks by militants from across the border who stormed an Army camp in Uri leaving 11 security personnel including a Lt Colonel dead and killed two civilians in Tral.
A police assistant sub-inspector was injured in the six-hour-long battle that took place in and around an Army base at Mohura, 90 km northwest of Srinagar, and within a 5 km radius of the Line of Control.
In yet another incident, two residents were killed and nine others injured in a grenade explosion in the southern town of Tral, that was blamed on separatist militants by the police. A police station in Shopian town, was also targeted by militants with a hand grenade, but no casualties were reported. Union home minister Rajnath Singh said attacks like the ones at Mohura and Shopian would not be tolerated.
Read: US condemns terrorist attacks in Kashmir
"Our hearts go out to the families of those affected by this deplorable attack," it said. The attacks and gun battles with security forces which in all left 21 people dead also included a top commander of Pakistan-based terror outfit LeT and seven militants. Srinagar and Shopian were the other two places where the militants struck.
Modi, who will be holding a rally in Srinagar city on Monday, condemned the terror attacks as "desperate attempts" to derail the atmosphere of hope created by the increased voter turnout and saluted the soldiers who laid down their lives for the nation.
Uri, Srinagar, Tral and Shopian goes to polls in Jammu and Kashmir state elections, in the third and fourth phase over the next 10 days.
Army Chief Dalbir Singh Suhag is scheduled to visit Srinagar today and pay tributes to soldiers martyred in Friday's militant attack.
Read: Kashmir under attack: 8 Army personnel, 3 policemen killed on eve of PM Narendra Modi’s rally
US has also strongly condemned the attacks ahead of PM Modi's poll rally, and said it remained firm on its "commitment" to work with India to defeat terrorism in all forms.
The pre-dawn “fidayeen” attack and subsequent firefight occurred near the Army’s 31 Field Ordinance Regiment base at Kandarwan, Mohura, a heavily militarised area close to the LoC. Though it is within 5 km of the de facto border, the distance by road between the two is around 13 km. Army and police sources said the fighting stopped in six and a half hours, but Army reinforcements with the local police’s counter-insurgency Special Operations Group and the CRPF had laid siege to a vast area around the Army camp and a massive search operation was on as reports last came in.
Security on high alert in Srinagar (J&K) pic.twitter.com/fQbKhFHspn
— ANI (@ANI_news) December 6, 2014Read: NSA Ajit Doval briefs PM Modi regarding the multiple terror attacks in Kashmir Valley
Two Army helicopters were pressed into service for surveillance of the area, reports said.
Army and police sources said the militants, who divided themselves into two groups, attacked the Army camp at 3.10 am, initially with small arms and then also used under-barrel grenade launchers and grenades.
The Army statement said: “During the intense operations, one officer and seven soldiers of the Army, and one ASI and two constables of the J&K Police made the supreme sacrifice. Six AK rifles with 55 magazines, two shotguns, two night vision binoculars, four radio sets, 32 unused grenades, one medical kit and a large quantity of ‘warlike stores’ were recovered from the dead terrorists.”
The slain policemen were identified as ASI Muhammad Akbar Mir, head constable Abdul Majeed Wani and constable Sanjay Kumar. The Army is yet to disclose the names of the soldiers who laid down their lives in the encounter. Army officials said their names could not be disclosed until their families were informed formally.
Narendra Modi handpicked Manohar Parrikar to launch books when soldiers die.
— Rahul Roushan (@rahulroushan) December 5, 2014Manohar Parrikar faced his first test as the Def Min today. It was a simple test & he failed it in the most outrageous way possible.
— IndiaSpeaks (@IndiaSpeaksPR) December 5, 2014First AJ now Manohar Parrikar, Why all Defence Ministers launching this book! Is this National Security related book? pic.twitter.com/BkHHrXMWbp
— Darpan (@supportnmforpm) December 6, 2014