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Five soldiers killed in attack on brigade HQ

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar

Heavily armed terrorists attacked yet another army camp in the border district of Kupwara in north Kashmir, killing five soldiers and seriously injuring four others.

In the encounter that was continuing late in the evening, four terrorists were gunned down by the troops even as heavy army reinforcements have been rushed to Chowkibal.

The terrorists launched the attack on the infantry brigade headquarters at around 1530 IST.

Senior army officers from Kupwara are already on the spot.

Sources said the terrorists fired rockets and rocket-propelled grenades and rained bullets on the heavily guarded camp. When reports last came in, both sides were involved in a gun battle with automatic weapons.

The reinforcements, meanwhile, were trying to encircle the attackers.

Police sources in Kupwara told rediff.com that this was the deadliest encounter between the army and militants in the district in recent times.

The militants have been targeting army camps in Kupwara district over the past fortnight. Following this, security in the entire district has been beefed up.

It was not known if the wounded soldiers had been moved to hospital.

The Hizbul Mujahideen, a Pakistan-backed terrorist outfit, owned responsibility for the attack in a phone call to local newspapers.

In Srinagar, troops encircled a house at Hyderpora and asked the terrorists hiding inside to surrender. The latter opened fire, killing a special police officer on the spot and injuring four police commandos. The troops finally blew the house up with mortars, killing all the three terrorists inside.

ALSO SEE: Five CRPF men injured in mine blast, 2 killed in Kashmir

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