While the world ended the year 2017 with a happy note, the borders of India did not. Embroiled in bullets and blood the army welcomes 2018.
Five security personnel and three militants were killed after Jaish-e-Muhammad militants stormed a CRPF installation in Lethpora area of south Kashmir.
The gunfight started at around 2:00 am when at least three JeM militants barged into the CRPF camp housing Group Training Centre of the 185th battalion, ammunition depot and other stores of the paramilitary force.
Srinagar-based CRPF spokesperson Rajesh Yadav told ET: “Our five soldiers have been martyred. Also, three of our men are injured. We have recovered bodies of two JeM militants. We believe another terrorist has also been killed.”
Yadav added that the gunfight was still going on. J&K police, 50 RR of Army and CRPF personnel are engaged in the operation. Authorities have suspended Internet services in the area.
Allegedly, the locals have declared that the 2 terrorists that were killed were minors. Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility for the attack. The group had recently suffered heavy reverses in the Valley. Four days ago, Noor Mohammad Tantray or “Chhota Noora”, a top Jaish terrorist, was killed in an encounter in the same district. In November, three terrorists of the group were killed. Among them was Talhr Rasheed, the nephew of Jaish chief Masood Azhar.
The CRPF personnel who lost their lives during the attack were identified as inspector Kuldip Roy, constables Tufail Ahmad, Rajendra Nain and Pradeep Panda. The killed militants were identified as Manzoor Ahmad Baba of Pulwama and Fardeen Ahmad Khanday, son of a policeman and resident of Tral.
This is one of the first fidayeen attacks by the local militants in many years, which could be a dangerous trendsetter for 2018.
The attack took place despite a specific alert that terrorists will target the CRPF camp. The police said there was prior intelligence warning about this attack.
“There was an input from the last two-three days. They (the terrorists) were trying. They probably could not get a place and time earlier. So, they struck last night,” senior police officer SP Vaid was quoted as saying by news agency Press Trust of India
Jaish-e-Muhammad in a statement to local news gathering agencies claimed responsibility for the attack, saying “Talha Rasheed, Mohammad Bhai and Noor Muhammad and all other martyrs are not heirless. Such attacks will continue till the last Indian soldier leaves J&K”.
In a similar attack in August, eight security personnel lost their lives when terrorists targeted a district police complex in Pulwama. The three terrorists who launched the suicide attack were killed after an intense gunfight that went on for over 12 hours.
Two months later, three suicide attackers carrying a massive arsenal of guns and explosives broke into a Border Security Force (BSF) camp near the Srinagar airport before dawn and opened fire, killing one soldier.
All three terrorists were killed after nearly 10 hours of the gunbattle. A unit of the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed that called itself the “Afzal Guru squad” claimed the attack.
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