Three militants involved in attack on Army camp in Kashmir’s Tangdhar killed

Srinagar: Three Jaish-e-Muhammad militants were killed in Army’s retaliatory fire following their attacking one of its camps in Tanghdar area close to the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Wednesday morning. A civilian was also killed in the fighting, reports said.

The Army sources said that the militants targeted its battalion headquarters in the Kalsuri ridge of Tanghdar area from the back with AK assault rifles and 40-mm Under Barrel Grenade Launcher at around 6:15 am, injuring a soldier and damaging barracks and vehicles. Also, an oil depot within the camp caught fire following the sneak attack.

The troops quickly retaliated to the fire and in the ensuing gun battle which continued for about seven hours all the three militants were killed, the sources said. Tanghdar is about 150 kilometres from Srinagar.

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Army officials said that the militants’ bodies have been retrieved from the scene of encounter along with three AK 47 rifles, a UBGL and some other arms and ammunition.

They also said that the militants made an abortive attempt to storm the battalion headquarters where about eighty soldiers were present and, as the troops swiftly responded to the ‘fidayeen’ attack, they positioned themselves at Darshak mountainous ridge near the camp.

Jaish-e-Muhammad while claiming responsibility said that three of its cadres attacked the camp shortly after Fajr (dawn) prayers. Its spokesperson Muhammad Hassan Shah told journalists here that the militants “managed to inflict heavy damage on the Indian forces”. He also claimed “our mujahideen took positions on a ridge outside the Army base and started targeting the Indian troops from right, left and centre."

An earlier report had said that Army commandos were air-dropped in the area to take on the militants.