Attackers may have sneaked through Jabla

The Army base which was attacked by a group of four militants on Sunday leaving 18 soldiers dead and over 20 others wounded is part of the Army’s 12 Infantry Brigade headquarters located on the peripheries of Uri town, 102-km northwest of capital Srinagar.

The area falls in close proximity to the LoC from three sides — Haji Peer, Kamalkot and Kaman post (Uri-Chakoti corridor used for cross-LoC trade and travel) — and the 12 Infantry Brigade is spread over a couple of dozen acres of sloping land with pine woods on both sides of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Road along Jhelum river. Army officials say that the place which was attacked by the heavily-equipped militants from the rear is actually an infantry installation.

Uri is a heavily militarised area. There is a six-layer security, including Army bunkers and pillboxes besides the Concertina razor wire laid at every 100 yards or so to secure each military installation.

LoC (Haji Peer) is 8-10 kilometers away, Gawalan Chronda behind Jabla Nallah 5-6 kilometers, Kamalkot 20-25 kilometers and Kaman post about 18 kilometers from the scene of incident. Also, India has erected a 12-feet-high fence along the de facto border. However, there are some gaps in between — due to mountain streams and difficult terrain — which could not be fenced and have been used by militants to cross.

The attackers, Army sources said, may have used Jabla Nallah to enter Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir before sneaking inside the rear office of the base — where most of the battalion’s administrative work is done — at around 5:15 am on Sunday from where they started firing indiscriminately. Springing a surprise, the militants lobbed 17 grenades in three minutes. This caused massive fire in the barracks and tents in about 150-meter radius, burning 13-14 soldiers alive instantaneously. Since the barracks were vacant, the militants took a defensive position in the side barracks of two floors and 16 rooms.

Intense firing ensued between Army troops and the attackers. Special forces and paratroopers were airdropped at the base to engage them. After a lengthy engagement, all four attackers were killed. Officials said that four commandos of the Army’s special forces stormed the building and killed three militants whereas their fourth accomplice had been gunned down earlier as, after the diesel dump ablaze, the attackers due to smog and subsequent explosions got disoriented and headed straight towards soldiers’ barracks.

Sources said that the militants may have sneaked into J&K through Jabla Nallah, the portions of which have not been fenced, shortly before carrying out the attack, but the possibility of their being already in the area as part of a larger group is not ruled out either.

On Monday, Army personnel were seen conducting a sort of mopping up operation around the area whereas the authorities have put J&K police and other security forces present in Uri and other border areas in the districts of Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipore in the Valley, Kagril and Leh in Ladakh and Jammu, Kathua, Samba, Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu region on high alert.

In this connection, Governor N.N. Vohra held an emergency meeting with senior officers of various security forces and other official agencies here late Sunday night. Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti also attended the meeting.