17 soldiers killed as militants sneak into their barracks while they sleep

Militants killed 17 soldiers during a pre-dawn ambush on an army base in Indian-administered Kashmir on Sunday. The heavily armed insurgents crossed the border and sneaked on to the infantry base housing hundreds of soldiers in Uri. They attacked as most of the soldiers, many resting after a tour of duty in the troubled province, were asleep. Four militants were killed in the raid in which buildings and tents were set on fire at the base. Helicopters were used to take some off the 35 wounded soldiers to hospital.

We salute the sacrifice of 17 soldiers who were martyred in the operation. In the counter action, four terrorists have been eliminated and combing operations are in progress

Indian army statement

Indian-ruled Kashmir is one of the world’s most heavily militarised regions, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers, paramilitaries and police deployed to guard the frontier with Pakistan. Sunday’s death toll was the worst in Indian-ruled Kashmir since a raid in December 2014, also near Uri and in which eight soldiers and three police were killed. Following the attack, India’s home minister Rajnath Singh has called an emergency meeting of top defence officials later in the day and cancelled trips to Russia and the U.S. “We have activated the entire force in and around Uri sector to step up security and launch combing operations,” a senior home ministry official said.

It is clearly a case of cross-border terror attack. We don’t know which militant group is involved.

Home ministry official

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