Accessibility links

Breaking News

Indian Forces, Militants Trade Fire in Kashmir


Indian soldiers take are seen outside an army camp at Nagrota, in the outskirts of Jammu, India, Nov. 29, 2016.
Indian soldiers take are seen outside an army camp at Nagrota, in the outskirts of Jammu, India, Nov. 29, 2016.

Militants attacked an army base near the Indian city of Jammu on Tuesday, killing two security personnel before taking positions inside the complex, officials said.

Up to four gunmen attacked the large base in Nagrota just before dawn, a senior army official said. One militant was killed and three soldiers were also wounded, the official said.

In a separate attack to the south of Jammu, Indian border forces killed three of five or six militants who were trying to cross into India along the disputed frontier with Pakistan, police said.

Jammu is the winter capital of India's Jammu and Kashmir state, part of the Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir that has been divided between arch-rivals India and Pakistan since independence from Britain in 1947 but is claimed in full by both.

Attacks against Indian security forces have increased in recent months, while Indian and Pakistani cross-border firing along the heavily militarized frontier has intensified as tension between the nuclear-armed neighbors has risen.

The attacks come on the same day Pakistan's new army chief, Lieutenant General Qamar Javed Bajwa, took charge. Later this week, Pakistan officials are due in the Indian city of Amritsar for an Asian regional summit.

India accuses Pakistan of supporting militants based on its side of the border who cross over to launch attacks. Pakistan denies that, accusing India of abusing the rights of Muslim Kashmiris opposed to Indian rule.

Kashmir has been gripped by protests since security forces killed a popular separatist leader in July. A crackdown in response to the protests has paralyzed much of the region.

Nineteen Indian soldiers were killed in an attack on an Indian army base in Kashmir on Sept. 18 in the worst such assault in 14 years.

  • 16x9 Image

    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

XS
SM
MD
LG