Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Sept 18: In one of the major and deadliest strikes against Army in Kashmir, 17 soldiers were killed as Fidayeen squad of Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) sneaked into Army’s Brigade headquarters in Uri area of district Baramulla near the Line of Control (LoC) this morning. However, Army’s Special Forces carried out an operation against the highly trained Fidayeen squad and killed four of them.
Sources said that at around 5.30 AM, a group of 4 Fidayeen of JeM sneaked into Army’s Brigade headquarters at Uri today. They fired incendiary ammunition that led to fire in the barracks where troops of 6-Bihar and 10 Dogra were putting up.
Sources said that 14 soldiers were killed due to fire that spread in the barracks as they were asleep at the time of attack. The Fidayeen fired from automatic AK-47 weapons and grenades from Under Barrel Grenade Launchers (UBGLs). Three soldiers were killed in the gun battle that followed.
Army Special Forces were rushed in to take on the Fidayeen and they neturalised all the four in a three hour long gun battle. The Fidayeen tried to enter the officers’ mess but were prevented by the troops who carried out operation against them.
The helicopters were pressed into service to evacuate the injured and they were brought to Army’s 92-Base Hospital in Srinagar. Several helicopter sorties carried 17 injured persons to the Base hospital in Srinagar.
Those killed have been identified as Sepoy Rakesh Singh, Sepoy Jawahar Munda, Sepoy Naimen Kujur, Sepoy UP Roa, Havaldar NS Rawat, Sepoy Ganesh Shanker, Naik S K Vidyarthi, Sepoy D Gurai, Lance Naik Jai Shanker, Lance Naik RK Yadav, Sepoy G Dolia, Havaldar Ashok Kumar Singh, Sepoy T S Smonnath, Sepoy Harindra Yadav and Sepoy Rajesh Kumar Singh of 6-Bihar Regiment and Subedar Karnail Singh and Havaldar Ravi Paul of 10 Dogra Regiment. Singh and Pal are from Jammu.
The 17 injured who are being treated at Army Base hospital as Naik V K Giri, Naik Ram Sarrup Jat, Sepoy Kharam Singh, Lance Naik SK Oran, Sepoy G C Sarkar, Havaldar Sunil Kumar, Sepoy CNK Chandermoney, Havaldar Ram Dev, Havaldar Sham Lal, Lance Naik Munna Singh, Sepoy Satish Koushik and Havaldar BG Baril from 6 Bihar and Naik Vijay Kumar, Havaldar Mandeep Kumar, Havaldar Jaswant, Sepoy Kamal Kanth and Sepoy Satish Kumar of 10 Dogra Regiment of Army.
Large quantity of arms and ammunition including four AK 47 rifles and four Under Barrel Grenade Launchers along with a large number of other war like stores were recovered from the dead Fidayeen.
The fire that engulfed the Army barracks was visible from a distance and Fire Tenders were rushed in from Baramulla to douse the flames. The residents of the area woke up to intense blasts and gun fire thinking that it was border shelling as the Line of Control is hardly few kilometers away from Uri town.
Sources said that a group of at least 7 militants of JeM infiltrated through Gohalan stream on LoC, some 3-4 kilometers from the Brigade Headquarter. They conducted reconnaissance before carrying out the attack and four entered inside the Army Headquarter and rest of them provided logistics.
Army has sealed entire area and is carrying out massive searches against the other three members of the group in and around Uri town. They are also sanitizing the Brigade Headquarters.
Army had already inputs of militants trying to carry out strike in Uri and for past 10 days they were on high alert in area. Army patrols were intensified in Uri since first week of September and checks of vehicles at several places were being conducted and even they had closed the main highway at several places with concertina wire and were allowing movement of vehicles after proper checking. However, since Friday morning there was no extra-ordinary movement of Army patrols and checking.
The attack seems to be was a well thought out at a time when there was change of command at Uri Brigade with troops of 10-Dogra Regiment being replaced by the troops of 6-Bihar. Some of the troops were in temporary shelters as part of routine change of command process.
The modus operandi of the Uri Brigade Headquarter attack was similar to that of Army’s Tanghdar Brigade Headquarter attack that was carried out in November last year. The JeM Fidayeen had set the petrol depot of the Army on fire inside Army Brigade. However, they were neturalised by the Army without causing much damage.
This is the second attack in Uri on Army installation since December 2014. On December 5, 2014 , the JeM Fidayeen attacked the Mohura camp in Uri near the LoC, killing 11 security men including 8 Army personnel.
Chronology of major attacks
Here is a timeline of the major attacks that have taken place in Jammu and Kashmir since 1999 till date.
* 3 November, 1999: Ten Army personnel killed in fidayeen attack on 15 Corps Headquarters at Srinagar’s Badami Bagh.
* 14 May, 2002: 36 persons killed and 48 others injured in a fidayeen attack on an Army cantonment in Kaluchak, Jammu. Most of the killed were family members.
* 22 July, 2003: A three-member team storms an Army camp killing eight security force personnel, including a Brigadier, and injuring 12 others in Akhnoor.
* 6 April, 2005: A day before the bus from Srinagar to Muzaffarabad in Pakistan occupied Kashmir is to be flagged off, two suicide squad terrorists attack the Tourist Reception Centre
* 5 October, 2006: Terrorists attack at Budshah Chowk, in heart of Srinagar, killing five JKP personnel, two CRPF soldiers and one civilian.
* 31 March, 2013: Attack on CRPF camp in Srinagar killed five.
* 24 June, 2013: Eight soldiers killed in attack on military convoy at Hyderpora, Srinagar.
* September 26, 2013: At least 13 killed in twin suicide attacks Jammu and Kashmir. A total of 10 people, apart from three militants, were killed during the attacks.
The dead include four policemen and two civilians in Kathua district and four Army personnel, including Lieutenant Colonel Bikramjeet Singh in Samba district.
* November 27, 2014: 10 persons, including four civilians, three Army soldiers and three militants were killed in day-long encounter at border village of Kathaar in Arnia sector, close to the International Border, of Jammu District.
* December 5, 2014: A group of heavily armed militants stormed into an Army’s 31 Field Regiment Ordinance Camp located at Mohra in Uri Sector of Baramulla district near the LoC.
One Lieutenant Colonel and seven soldiers of the Army, one ASI and two constables of Jammu and Kashmir Police were killed. Six militants were also killed in the operation.
* March 20, 2015: A fidayeen squad of militants in Army fatigues stormed a Police Station in Kathua District killing seven persons, including three security forces personnel, two civilians and two militants while 12 persons, including eight CRPF personnel, three Policemen and a civilian were also injured in the incident.
* March 21, 2015: Two terrorists were killed during a fidayeen attack at the Army camp on Jammu-Pathankot National Highway in Samba district. Three persons including one civilian, a Major and an Army jawan were also injured during the attack.
* May 31, 2015: Army foils attack on its Brigade headquarters in Tanghdar sector of Kupwara District by killing four members of six heavily armed militants.
* November 18, 2015: A Colonel with the Army’s elite Para Commando unit was killed in an encounter with militants in the forests of Kupwara.
* November 25, 2015: Three JeM militants and a generator operator of MES were killed when a group of militants attacked an Army camp near LoC at Tanghdar in North Kashmir’s Kupwara district.
* December 7, 2015: Six CRPF personnel were injured when militants opened firing on their convoy near Green Tunnel at Samthan in Bijbehara in South Kashmir’s Anantnag District.
* February 21, 2016: Three army commandos, including two Captains and a militant, were killed in a fierce gunfight with a group of terrorists holed up inside a government building on the outskirts of Srinagar, raising the toll to seven in the encounter that began a day earlier.
* June 25, 2016: Eight CRPF personnel were killed and 20 others injured when militants attacked their convoy at Frestbal near Pampore in Srinagar on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
