Armed militants stormed a major Indian army base near the frontier with Pakistan early Tuesday, killing three soldiers, as tensions between the two neighbors ran high after weeks of cross-border firing.
Police said four militants had also been killed in a stand-off with security forces inside the command centre in northern Jammu and Kashmir state that lasted most of the day.
It was the most audacious attack on an Indian military base since September, when 19 soldiers were killed in an assault that India blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
“All the four militants have been killed. Three soldiers including a major died in the firefight,” a senior police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“Now the search operation is going on inside the premises,” they added. The base is one of four command centers in the restive region and home to over 1,000 officers.
The attack came as Pakistan’s hugely popular military chief General Raheel Sharif handed over to his successor on Tuesday with a warning to India not to mistake his country’s “restraint” for weakness.
Source: AFP
