Terrorists attack 30 Rashtriya Rifles camp in Handwara, J&K

NEW DELHI: An attempt by three heavily-armed Pakistani terrorists to storm an army camp in border district of Kupwara today was foiled by alert soldiers who gunned down all the attackers in a fierce encounter and recovered a large quantity of arms, ammunition and other material like maps.

• The terrorists opened fire on the army camp at Langate in Kupwara district at around 5 AM, which was retaliated by the jawans, a senior army officer said.

• After repulsing the attack, the army launched a search operation in the area, during which the militants fired upon them, leading to an encounter.

• Briefing the media on the operation, Commanding Officer Colonel Rajiv Sharang said the three militants were challenged by jawans after they noticed suspicious movement near the perimeter fencing of the camp.

• "Three terrorists were seen near the perimeter fencing of our camp. Our sentries challenged the terrorists who fired heavily on our sentry posts. We also retaliated and then a quick reaction team was activated so that the terrorists do not flee the area where they were spotted.

• "We used illumination rounds to illuminate the area and killed all the three terrorists," Col Sharang told reporters at Langate. The army officer said the forces have recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition from the slain militants.

• The recoveries included three AK rifles, three Under Barrel Grenade Launchers, a number of magazines, significant rounds of bullets, 4 walkie talkie radio sets, three GPS devices, three mobile phones, dry fruits and medicines besides a map and a matrix sheet.

• "The medicine which has been recovered from all three terrorists has Pakistani marking. This ascertains that all three terrorists were Pakistani terrorists," Col Sharang said.

• "The maps and the matrix sheet, which they were using, that also is being analysed. If we come to know more from it, we will let you know," he added.

• To a question on the recovery of four radio-sets from the slain terrorists, the army official said, "There are times that the terrorists carry more than one radio-set also. So that is why from the three terrorists, we have recovered four radio-sets and there are three GPS devices".

• Recovery of dry fruits and medicines indicate that the terrorists had planned to penetrate the camp and engage the army for a long time.

The attack came less than a month after terrorists stormed an army camp in Uri and less than two weeks after the cross-LoC surgical strike carried out by the Indian forces against terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.