| Terrorists attack Nagrota army camp | | 2 officers among 7 soldiers martyred, 3 attackers shot dead | |  Early Times Report
Jammu, Nov 29: Seven soldiers, including two officers, were martyred after terrorists armed with guns and grenades stormed an Army camp at Nagrota, 15 kilometres from here, on Tuesday. Three terrorists were also shot dead in the retaliatory action.
Officials said that at one stage, the armed terrorists at the army base in the garrison town took 12 soldiers, two women and two children hostage. But the army said they were safely rescued.
It was the highest casualty the Indian Army suffered in a single terror attack after the September 18 killing of 19 soldiers at a military base in north Kashmir's Uri town.
The Army spokesperson Lt Col Manish Mehta said terrorists disguised in police uniform targeted the Nagrota camp, close to the headquarters of the Indian Army's 16 Corps, a military formation that acts as a nerve centre against terrorism and to defend the border with Pakistan.
Lt Col Mehta told reporters that terrorists entered the field regiment camp around 5.30 a.m. They fired indiscriminately and lobbed grenades at the Officers' Mess. "The terrorists entered two buildings occupied by officers, families and men. This led to a hostage like situation. "The situation was very quickly contained and ... all were successfully rescued, which included 12 soldiers, two ladies and two children," he added.
Mehta said two officers and five soldiers were killed and "bodies of three terrorists were also recovered".
The mopping operation to sanitise the area in Nagrota was halted after it became dark and would resume on Wednesday morning. "In these operations, there is no time limit and these have to be done professionally. There is no civilian injury," he added.
The Jammu-Srinagar national highway, which runs through Nagrota, was closed for traffic near the town, parts of which continued to be under cordon.
The attack on Nagrota Army camp on Tuesday followed days of calm on the border and the Line of Control (LoC) between Indian and Pakistani forces. The two sides have been exchanging heavy mortar and artillery fire for months after the Uri attack. Following that, the Indian Army destroyed at least seven terror launch pads and killed at least 35 terrorists across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistani Kashmir.
Since then, terrorists have attacked security forces in at least a dozen places in Jammu and Kashmir. |
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