17 soldiers martyred in JeM’s na-Pak strike in Uri; 4 terrorists shot
In one of the deadliest strikes on Army formations, a freshly infiltrated group of Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) terrorists on Sunday attacked a battalion headquarters in Uri, 102 kilometres from here, in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district. At least 17 soldiers were martyred in the attack and 23 others wounded, nine of them critically. The Army airdropped Special Forces to neutralise the four fidayeen attackers who stormed the formation located in the vicinity of Uri brigade headquarters.
Defence sources said the attack began around 4.30 am and continued for five hours. The residents in the area woke up to the sounds of blasts and heavy smoke billowing from the garrison area. A resident from Uri told The Pioneer that he initially suspected that war has broken out between India and Pakistan.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag arrived here to take stock of the emerging situation. They visited the Baramulla area and later took a top-level meeting at XV Corps headquarters. In the evening, Governor NN Vohra and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti reviewed the situation with top-level security and Intelligence officers.
Journalists and experts who have covered Kashmir for the past 27 years and that this is the deadliest single attack on Army as per the fatalities.
Sources said that the State Intelligence agencies had alerted the Army of a possible attack in Uri area. locals said that Army was on high alert during past few days and patrolled the areas where generally army’s footprint was rare. However, despite the alertness, the militants stuck from an unsuspecting area. Sources said that the attackers might have taken a route between Sokad and Shukdar areas and crossed the line of Control through Jabla Nallah, around 6 kilometres from the attack site.
“It is highly likely that the attackers might have crossed the loC during the night,” said sources acquainted with the terrain of Uri sector. They said the militants were highly trained and motivated.
The Uri area in north Kashmir is one of the most important sectors in north Kashmir and a vast forested area is managed by two Army brigades. The area was a gateway for infiltrators in the initial years of armed insurgency in early 1990s. It was target of Pakistani mortar shelling in 1998 and 1999 that caused heavy casualties on Army and the civilians. Before this attack, the militants also stormed an Army formation in Mohra on December 5, 2014 killing 11 personnel including a lieutenant colonel. Six Fidyeen were also killed in the gunfight.
Sources said the militants breached the fence of the Infantry battalion of Army’s 12th brigade. They lobbed grenades and fired automatic weapons. Most of the soldiers were sleeping when the attack occurred. The barracks and temporary shelters caught fire. Incidentally, at the time of the attack, the battalion headquarters was undergoing change as 10 Dogra Regiment, which suffered two fatal casualties, was in the process of moving out to and 6 Bihar Regiment was in the taking over. Fifteen soldiers of the Bihar regiment, including several chefs, were killed in the attack. An enquiry would reveal as to how the fidayeen militants reached the spot and whether they were in know of the Army’s replacement.
The 12 brigade is one of two brigades in Uri that is responsible for the guarding the loC in the sector. Uri is covered by the loC from three sides and the area is hilly and heavily forested
Defence spokesman said a group of heavily armed militants targeted the rear administrative base of a unit at Uri.
“The administrative base had large strength of troops of units turning over after their tour of duty who were stationed in tents/temporary shelters which caught fire, and resulted in heavy casualties,” he said.
Sources said the evacuating the injured soldiers were a tough challenge for the Army. The 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar called expert doctors and surgeons from the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) to meet the challenge of attending to injured soldiers. One of the critically injured soldiers was later flown to Army’s Referral Research Hospital in Delhi.
The attack occurred at a time when United National General Assembly is in session and anti-India uprising in Kashmir spearheaded by separatist groups has crippled the normal life for the 72 days.
Defence spokesman Col SD Goswami said the Defence Minister manohar Parrikar and Army chief Gen Suhag were briefed by the Northern Army and Chinar Corps Commanders lt Gen DS Hooda and lt Gen Satish Dua respectively at Srinagar on the Uri attack and the operation launched to neutralise the terrorists.
“While three of the four heavily armed terrorists were eliminated within the initial 15 minutes of establishing contact, the fourth was neutralised later and four AK 47 rifles and equal number of UBGls along with other war-like stores were recovered from them. Unfortunately, 17 soldiers have attained martyrdom in the operation. 13 of these soldiers died as they were trapped in the tents and shelters that caught fire due to the explosives used by the terrorists.”
Parrikar was briefed about the security grid along the lC and the hinterland also covering the deployment and employment of the additional forces that have been recently inducted into the Valley (under operation calm-down to thwart the public protests). The need for heightened vigil both on the loC and hinterland and to remain prepared for any developing was stressed upon. There have been a number of infiltration attempts that the Army has foiled recently. It may be recalled that in the last one week itself, three such attempts were foiled in Kupwara Sector when four terrorists were killed and another group of four terrorists was eliminated in Poonch, the defence minister was told.
On being briefed about the internal security situation in the hinterland, the Army Chief reiterated the importance of complete synergy amongst all security, intelligence and other government agencies to ensure calm and prevent the terrorists and other inimical forces from moving with impunity and intimidating the populace.