Indian troops killed in Kashmir attack

At least two fighters have opened fire on a paramilitary camp on the Indian side of the disputed region of Kashmir,
killing five Indian personnel and wounding five others, police have said. 

The assailants were killed in a gunfight that ensued on Wednesday at the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) base just outside the restive city of Srinagar, under curfew for much of the last few weeks following protests.

Jammu and Kashmir state Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said three civilians were also wounded in what he called a “suicide attack”.

“A division of the CRPF was deployed at a camp here and children were playing cricket in the field when two militants
fired grenades and attacked our division,” Abdul Gani Mir, inspector general of police, told the Reuters news agency.

“We have lost five of our CRPF personnel who gunned down the two militants.” 

Police said it was not immediately clear if more than two assailants were involved in the attack, which began when the
gunmen alighted from a car outside the camp, walked to its entrance and shot a sentry dead before firing indiscriminately
into the base.

Militants often attacked security bases in Kashmir during the 1990s, when there was a full-blown insurgency against Indian rule in a region over which India and Pakistan fought two of their three wars. But there have been very few in recent years.

Tensions have been running high in Srinagar since last month, when India hanged a Kashmiri man for an attack on the
country’s parliament in 2001. The authorities have sought to crush clashes between protesters and police by imposing curfews in the city.