Terrorists attack army camp; kill Captain, two other soldiers

Three heavily-armed terrorists stormed an army camp in Kupwara district of Kashmir in the wee hours on Thursday, killing a Captain and two other soldiers before two of the assailants were gunned down in a fierce 35-minute encounter.

Soon after the encounter, a mob started pelting stones at the security forces, leading to a clash in which a 75-year-old civilian was killed due to a bullet injury. At around 4 am, three terrorists, dressed in black Pathani suit and combat jackets, entered from the rear side the artillery unit of the army garrison at Panzgam in Kupwara, about 100 km from here, and started indiscriminate firing, army officials said here and in New Delhi.

They managed to cross the second security layer of the camp located in a mountainous terrain and spread over an area of 400 x 800 meters, the officials said.

Firing indiscriminately, the terrorists then advanced towards the officers' complex of the camp which houses about 1000 army personnel and is situated about 10 km from the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan. Soldiers took on the attackers and forced them back towards one of the gates of the camp, the officials said.

In the gunfight, Captain Ayush Yadav, Subedar Bhoop Singh Gujjar and Naik B Venkata Ramanna were killed.

Five other soldiers were injured and they were airlifted to Army's 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar. The militants started fleeing as the Quick Response Team (QRT) of the army swung into action, the officials said.

Two militants were gunned down while a third one managed to escape under the cover of darkness, the officials said.

"The entire operation lasted 35 minutes," said Col Saurabh in Kupwara. The troops recovered three AK rifles which indicated that there was a third terrorist, he said, adding search operations are underway to track him down.