Armed militants early yesterday attacked an Indian army base near the border with Pakistan, killing two soldiers, police said.
The attack comes at a time of heightened tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors following a deadly assault on an Indian army base in September that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
“Three to four militants entered the Army Corps headquarters at Nagrota and fired towards the officers’ mess,” a senior police officer said, referring to a town in northern India about 20km from the border.
Photo: AFP
“Two officers were killed and an exchange of fire is on,” he said by telephone, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Indian Ministry of Defence spokesman Manish Mehta said the attack was still ongoing, but did not comment on the casualties.
“Early morning an encounter took place and terrorists have entered one of our military areas. The situation is under control, as soon as the operation is over we will be able to give details,” Mehta told reporters. “Terrorists are armed, they have weapons, and that is why [a] firefight is taking place.”
Nagrota is in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir, which borders Pakistan and has seen repeated outbreaks of cross-border firing between Indian and Pakistani troops in the past few weeks.
The rise in violence follows the September attack, in which 19 Indian troops were killed, the deadliest incident in a decade.
New Delhi blamed Pakistan-based militants and responded by launching what it called “surgical strikes” on militants across the heavily militarized border, sparking fury from Islamabad, which denied they took place.
Indian and Pakistani troops regularly exchange fire across the Kashmir border known as the Line of Control, but rarely send ground troops over the line.
Kashmir has been divided since India’s and Pakistan’s independence from Britain in 1947. Both claim the territory in full and have fought two wars over the mountainous region.
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