Fidayeen storm BSF camp near Srinagar Airport

Mangalore Today News Network

Srinagar,  Oct 3 2017 DH News: In a pre-dawn attack, fidayeen (suicide) militants attacked a Border Security Force (BSF) camp near the Srinagar International Airport in which three para-military troopers have been injured while two ultras were killed in the retaliatory action by security forces.

Sources said three to four heavily-armed fidayeen, believed to be foreign mercenaries, targeted the administrative block of the BSF’s 182nd Battalion, located outside the main gate of the airport at around 4.15 am.

After forcing their way into the area, the militants resorted to indiscriminate firing and threw grenades in which three BSF troopers were injured, police said. In the retaliatory action, two attackers have been killed so far.

"Two more militants are currently holed up inside a building, and an operation is underway," a police official said.

"Helicopters are hovering over the area and intermittent firing exchanges are going on. The area has been cordoned off," he said, adding Special Forces have been called in.

Sources said the camp was targeted to inflict high casualties on security forces as it is situated in a high-security area and close to the airport. The road to the airport has been closed and airline staff and civilians were barred from moving towards the airport.

All morning flights to and from Srinagar airport have been cancelled in view of them, officials said. All morning flights to and from Srinagar till 10:30 am were cancelled and the flight’s operation will only resume after the security clearance from the police.

Sources said that security agencies were ascertaining as to how the armed fidayeen breached multiple layer security to sneak into the camp close to Srinagar Airport, which is a highly fortified zone.

IGP Kashmir Muneer Khan said there is no information yet about these fidayeen getting any help from locals. "That possibility is being investigated," he told reporters.

Adjacent to the camp is the old Srinagar airfield which is been run by the Indian Air Force.

The area also houses training centres of the BSF and CRPF. Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit claimed the responsibility for the attack, which comes a little over a month after an identical incident on police lines in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on August 26 in which eight security personnel were killed.