KL Report
SRINAGAR
Suspected militants wearing army uniforms Friday stormed a police station in Kuthua, killing a soldier and sparking a fierce gun battle that left a militant dead near the border between Indian and Pakistan, police said.
One more person died during the encounter it was yet to be known whether he too was a militant or not.
At least six paramilitary officers and two policemen were also wounded in the fighting on the outskirts of Kathua town in the Jammu region, some 350 km from Srinagar while another six paramilitary officers were still trapped inside the station, police added.
Army and paramilitary soldiers have cordoned off the area, and traffic on the nearby main highway connecting Jammu region with the rest of country has been suspended.
Inspector-General Danish Rana said the militants killed a police sentry and then pushed their way into the station. One more killed in crossfire as the men in uniform responded.
The last big militant attack in Kashmir occurred in December last when militants struck at an army camp in Uri, also near the border with Pakistan.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh said in a Twitter post the central government was monitoring the attack and was in touch with the state government in Kashmir.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said the attackers “will have walked across the border last night and launched their attack this morning, which is the past pattern as well”.
