Kupwara army camp attack: Fidayeen attack leaves 3 soldiers martyred in J&K; two suspected JeM terrorists gunned down

Two army jawans and an army captain were martyred on Thursday when militants attacked an army camp in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir. According to sources, two suspected Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists were gunned down by security forces in the retaliatory action.

The militants stormed the camp of a battalion at Panjgaon at Chowkibal on Thursday morning. The deceased officer has been identified as Capt Ayush but the names of the two soldiers were not immediately known.

Militants carried out a Fidayeen attack on the army camp in Kupwara in north Kashmir. The army officer killed was identified as Captain Ayush, official sources said.

The incident took place at Panjgaon at Chowkibal when militants, suspected to be of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad stormed the battalion camp which is in-charge of road opening duties on the crucial roads in this area.

Two militants were killed as army foiled their attack, the sources said. However, a hunt is on to ascertain if any militant sneaked into the camp under the cover of darkness.

The attack comes amid reports that about 150 militants are waiting near the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) to sneak into the Valley. A top army official had said this on Wednesday with an assertion that the attempts would be foiled.

Lt Gen J S Sandhu, Commander of Srinagar-based 15 Corps which is responsible for security of the Kashmir valley, said there would be more militants at the launching pads in PoK in the areas facing Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu province.

According to an estimate, in our area 15 Corps there are about 150 militants at present. There would be some more near Poonch-Rajouri areas (in Jammu region) as well, he said.

The army commander said the infiltration from PoK across the LoC has been low this year compared to the last year.

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Last year, the infiltration from across was high. This year, till now, we have been able to stop them (infiltrators).  Snow has also helped us as more snow this year has made it difficult for them to infiltrate. We will continue to stop them so that there is no increase in the militancy, he said.

He said the army was fully geared to stop infiltration on the LoC. 

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(With inputs from PTI)