Jem Militants Attack Indian Army Camp İn Kashmir

Militants stormed an Indian army camp in the northern Tangdhar area of Indian-held Kashmir Wednesday morning, triggering an hours-long exchange of fire.



According to the Indian army, all three attackers -- along with a civilian -- were killed in the exchange while an army officer was injured.



According to accounts by the Indian police, three militants entered the camp -- located in Tangdhar's Kupwara district some 120 kilometers northwest of Srinagar -- after breaching a security fence around the camp's perimeter.



Army sources, however, dismissed claims that the militants had penetrated the heavily-fortified camp, telling Anadolu Agency that the shootout had occurred near -- not inside -- the facility.



"Our soldiers killed all three attackers, but while the gun-battle has ended, the operation is still on," NN Joshi, a lieutenant-colonel in the Indian army, told Anadolu Agency.



"Only one army man was injured and a civilian has died," he added.



The Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) militant outfit, believed to be behind a 2001 attack on the Indian parliament in New Delhi, has since claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack.



In a statement, the JeM said their fighters had "taken a position inside the army installation".



Speaking to Srinagar-based news agency CNS, JeM spokesman Muhammad Hasan Shah said the group's fighters had "managed to inflict heavy damage on the Indian forces".



Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by both India and Pakistan in part and claimed by both in full. A part of Kashmir is also held by China.



India and Pakistan have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- since they were partitioned in 1947. Two of the conflicts were fought over Kashmir.



Since 1989, Kashmiri resistance groups in Indian-held Kashmir have fought Indian rule, demanding independence or unification with neighboring Pakistan.



More than 70,000 Kashmiris have been killed in the violence so far, most of them by Indian forces.



India maintains over half a million troops in Kashmir. - Jammu