Soldiers killed in army base attack in Indian-administered Kashmir

Evidence gathered at the scene indicated the attackers were foreign and their equipment bore Pakistani markings, he added. He did not elaborate. Following the gruesome attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that those responsible “will not go unpunished”.

Notably, a similar type of attack at Mohra in the same area has been carried out by the freedom fighters on 5 December 2015.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh pointed a finger directly at Pakistan, saying it is a “terrorist state” and should be isolated.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, but is claimed by both in its entirety.

India has blamed Pakistan-based militant groups for a string of attacks on its territory – including an assault on Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people. The Uri base in Baramulla district is located close to the Line of Control.

“The heightened tension in the wake of the Uri attack is set to further vitiate the atmosphere in and around Jammu and Kashmir amid increasing India-Pakistan hostility”, she warned.

A statement from the Northern Command said “heavily armed terrorists targeted the rear administrative base at Uri” and that four terrorists died in the counter action.

Reuters television footage showed helicopters flying in to evacuate the injured as an operation continued to secure the area.

At least 14 of the 17 casualties, according to Gen Ranbir Singh, occurred due to a fire after militants hurled grenades at temporary structures in a mountainous terrain of Uri.

The Defence Ministry in New Delhi however put the number of wounded around 35.

Singh, the home minister, chaired a crisis meeting in New Delhi and cancelled trips to Russian Federation and the United States.

Uri, Sept. 18: The garrison town of Uri and the villages around were jolted awake by a string of loud explosions early this morning, the anxious residents fearing they had come under intense Pakistani shelling.

“Pakistan-based militant groups have been openly expressing sympathy with the victims (of security forces’ firing) and perhaps they wanted to send a message that they were avenging these deaths”, a source in the Mehbooba Mufti government said.

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said the United States “strongly” condemns the attack. “So the official response immediately has to focus on how to deliver a punishment to the Pakistan military”. Militants killed 30 soldiers and their families in a suicide attack in Kaluchak in the Himalayan region in 2002.

The terrorists were then challenged by the Army personnel.

Amid the protests, India’s military has had to halt its operations against militants because Kashmiri civilians have hurled rocks at the troops trying to go after the rebels in neighborhoods.

“The Pakistani calculation is that any time there is talk of military confrontation between India and Pakistan, the world – which is consumed with these apocalyptic visions of nuclear war – will be forced to step in and tell India and Pakistan, “you need to sit together and talk about Kashmir”, he said. “This India has moved on from old strategic restraint”, he said.

In January, seven military personnel were killed when six terrorists attacked the Pathankot air base.