Alarm bells rang for security agencies on Wednesday, as three militants of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) attacked an Army camp at Tangdhar in Kupwara district and were killed in the ensuing gunfight. A civilian also died. The attack comes almost a year after a similar attack in Uri left 17 dead.
Speaking to a news agency, JeM spokesman Muhammad Hasan Shah said the militants stormed the Tangdhar camp, 110 km north of Srinagar, immediately after the morning prayers at 7 a.m.
“All the three militants were neutralised. They did not manage to enter the camp. Three AK-47s were recovered,” Army spokesman Colonel Manish Kumar told The Hindu .
A civilian, Tanveer Ahmad, working for the military engineering services, was killed. A Junior Commissioned Officer was admitted to hospital with injuries.
Kupwara Superintendent of Police Ejaz Ahmad said the militants “seemed to be fresh infiltrators” even as many mountain passes in the area were covered with snow and a foggy weather prevailed for the past several days.
Before running to a nearby forest to hide near the Kalsuri ridge, the Jaish militants on Wednesday fired grenades at the camp with under-barrel grenade launchers. One of the grenades hit fuel drums in the camp, sparking a fire.
The JeM was wiped out in the north and south Kashmir after Adil Pathan and Chota Burmi were killed in Awantipora in October this year. The fresh attack points to the group’s attempt to stage a comeback.
Sources said the security agencies were worried that the JeM wanted to tap into the growing alienation in the valley, with many youths joining the Hizbul Mujahideen.
On December 5 last year, the JeM attacked the Mohura camp in Uri near the Line of Control. Seventeen persons, including 11 security men, were killed.
Sources said the Jaish, headed by the Pakistan-based Maulana Masood Azhar who was released in exchange for the passengers of a hijacked Indian plane in 2000, tried to revive the group by launching the Al-Shohada Brigade or Shaheed Afzal Guru Squad in 2013.
“Twenty foreign militants were pushed into the valley during 2013-14 to start a fresh recruitment drive,” the sources said. “All were killed in a short span.”
