Jawan killed in Baramulla attack, militants escape

One Border Security Force (BSF) jawan was killed and another wounded in Sunday night’s terror attack in Kashmir’s border town of Baramulla.

The militants managed to escape under the cover of darkness, questioning the state of preparedness by security forces after the September 18 Uri attack and subsequent “surgical strikes” by India’s special forces across the LoC.

Militants attacked a camp of 46 Rashtriya Rifles and a BSF outpost at Baramulla’s Janbazpora around 10.30 pm with automatic rifles. Some officials said it was a “shoot and scoot” strike, and the jawans may have died in “friendly fire”. Baramulla’s senior superintendent of police Imtiyaz Hussain said that security forces foiled the attack by at least two militants, and in a 90-minute exchange of fire, BSF jawans Nitin and Palwinder were injured. Nitin succumbed to his injuries. On Monday, security forces conducted searches in Baramulla, 54-km northwest of summer capital Srinagar. On September 18, militants had attacked the Army’s 12 Brigade headquarters in Uri, also in Baramulla district, killing 19 soldiers, and escalating tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. After the attack, India said its special forces carried out ‘surgical strikes’ across the LoC to target “terrorist launchpads” in Pakistani-occupied-Kashmir. Islamabad denied the claim but said that “unprovoked firing” by Indian troops along the de facto border killed two Pakistani soldiers. Both home minister Rajnath Singh and defence minister Manohar Parrikar held a series of discussions on Monday with senior Army and BSF officials to analyse the Baramulla incident.

Sources said that the attack appears to have been carried out by some local sleeper cells. A suicide attack was ruled out after the militants escaped as they failed to breach the outer security cordon.

Security agencies have seized, for a detailed forensic examination, a GPS device and a compass left behind by the militants.

Surprisingly, a Union home ministry spokesman had claimed in the morning that two terrorists had been shot dead but the Army, the BSF or the local police did not corroborate this.

The spokesman later said that the report of the killing of two terrorists was a “claim” and it was being “verified”.

Union home minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday that security forces are giving befitting replies to militants who have stepped up activities in Kashmir in recent weeks. Mr. Singh is on a two-day visit of eastern Ladakh to assess the situation in the region bordering Pakistan and China.