An attack on an Army camp outside Baramulla Town of Kashmir was reported on Sunday night. This is the second attack in two weeks at the India-Pakistan border of Kashmir, the first one being the Uri attack where some terrorist were reported to have killed 18 Indian Army soldiers in the middle of the night. Militants have mounted suicide attack at Baramulla within one week of the Indian Special Forces conducting a surgical attack after crossing the LoC. Let us take a look at what happened.
Location: The city of Baramulla is located in the Indian side of Kashmir, on the banks of river Jhelum. The army camp is situated furtger towards the bprder.
The attack: After the Uri incident, the Indian Army is on high alert and prepared to fight. Nevertheless, on Sunday night, the locals of Baramulla city heard heavy firing. The time is said to be 10:30 p.m IST. Later, an army spokesperson confirmed the media that militants outside the town had launched an opened fire at the Baramulla Army Camp.”An exchange of fire is on,” he said.
According to preliminary reports, the militants attacked a battalion headquarters of the Army. Not only did they fire indiscriminately but also lobbed grenades, reports suggest. All of them were heavily armed and went on to attack a Rashtriya Rifles army camp which also nests some soldiers of Border Security Force(BSF). This followed a fierce gun battle between the two groups which the locals heard. It went on for about two hours and finally ended in mid-morning, a police official said.
The search operations were underway. The senior officials of BSF also arrived at the location on receiving the news. The militants had allegedly broken into the 46 RR through an adjacent BSF camp. Sources say that they were not certain if the attackers, three to four in number, had fled in the dark as it was midnight. Thus, the conduction of search is still going on, and the adjacent areas including Kashmir, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, and Maharashtra are on high alert.
According to the preliminary reports, the militants attacked a battalion headquarters of the Army. Not only did they fire indiscriminately but also lobbed grenades, reports suggest. All of them were heavily armed and went on to attack a Rashtriya Rifles army camp which also nests some soldiers of Border Security Force(BSF). This followed a fierce gun battle between the two groups which the locals heard.
It went on for about two hours and finally ended in mid-morning, a police official said. The search operations were underway. The senior officials of BSF also arrived at the location on receiving the news. The militants had allegedly broken into the 46 RR through an adjacent BSF camp. Sources say that they were not certain if the attackers, three to four in number, had fled in the dark as it was midnight. Thus, the conduction of search is still going on, and the adjacent areas including Kashmir, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, and Maharashtra are on high alert.
Injuries and killings: According to sources, the gun battle rendered two milita
nts dead, though the Army officials have not confirmed anything regarding the issue. It also had a BSF jawan killed, and another was injured. The former has been identified as Constable Nitin and the latter as Constable Pulwinder. The attack has also injured few civilians.
Reactions: With the Uri attack still being a fresh wound, the Indians did not expect another one within such a short period. Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar conducted a high-level meeting with the Chiefs of the Defense forces who submitted their reports on the attack.
Home minister Rajanath Singh after speaking with the security forces said that they are giving “befitting reply” to such attacks by Pakistan-based terrorist groups. Meanwhile, Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif has been reported to have announced that “Pakistan stands united against Indian aggression.” Tweets and posts related to the incident flooded in as usual. Everyone was kept updated by the officials through social media. The people deeply regrets the death of the soldier.
Current Status: Search operations have been called off as there was no firing since 1 a.m, on Monday.
With all this going on, we can now just hope this tension ends soon and let us be safe. We pray that those who are fighting at the border for us may be unharmed, and so may we.
