Timeline: Bloody Sunday sunrise in Uri5 am: Four heavily armed terrorists sneak into the 12th Brigade headquarters of the Indian Army in Uri sector, close to the Line of Control. 5.30 am: They reach the 10 Dogra unit where the change of command is taking place. The barracks of the unit is located there. Many soldiers are sleeping. 5.31 am: They lob hand grenades and spray gunfire, Caught unawares but recovering quickly, soldiers return fire. The switch locations within the campus. 6 am: Triggered by grenades, fire breaks out in the barracks in which jawans have their temporary digs. Some tents catch fire with soldiers still sleeping in them. 7.30 am: Special forces of the Army take charge and gunfight intensifies. Injured soldiers air-lifted to Srinagar. 8.30 am: Union home minister Rajnath Singh speaks to J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti. 10 am: All four terrorists declared killed. More than 20 personnel suffer injuries. 11 am: Army officials confirm death of 17 soldiers |
SRINAGAR: In a major terror attack in the recent times, 17 Indian Army Soldiers died and more than a dozen injured in a fidayeen attack in an Army base camp in Uri, close to the Line of Control, in the small hours of today. All four terrorists who stormed the Army camp have been killed and combing operations in the area is still on.
"On the early hours of 18 September, a group of heavily armed terrorists targeted the rear administrative base of a unit at Uri, Kashmir. In the counter action, four terrorists have been eliminated and combing operations are in progress," says a statement issued by Udhampur based northern command.
"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. We salute the sacrifice of 17 soldiers who were martyred in the operation." Sources said similar numbers of injured will be there in attack.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag are rushing to Srinagar in view of the major terror attack.
The four militants are believed to have sneaked into the Indian Army base around 3.30 a.m and about 20 minutes later, a major explosion was heard as the fidayeen hurled grenades in the barracks where some Army men were asleep.
Hurling grenades and firing randomly, the militants inflicted maximum damage as they targeted the Army personnel. As the Army retaliated, intense gun battle ensued which continued till around 9 a.m in which all four militants were killed.
‘’The operation is going on,’’ Jammu and Kashmir DGP K Rajendra Kumar, who was monitoring the situation from Srinagar, told Express. He will be visiting the Army base in the next couple of hours.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh also postponed his visit to Russia and the US due to the situation in Valley.
The minister tweeted, "Keeping the situation of Jammu and Kashmir in mind and in the wake of terror attack in Uri, I have postponed my visits to Russia and the USA."
Reports suggest that there were a series of explosions and intense gun fire from the Army base. This is the first major terror attack on an Army base in the valley in the last many years in which 17 Army soldiers were martyred. Para commandos of the Indian Army have been air dropped at the base who are combing the area.
Though infiltration attempts have seen an increase in the last couple of months, security agencies were left perplexed as to how the militants could sneak across the LoC into Uri and then carry out a major terror strike, despite heightened vigil on LoC following credible inputs of repeated infiltration attempts, sources said
(Inputs from Pradip Sagar)