Srinagar, October 22
Three weeks after the suicide attack on the Assembly complex here, another suicide squad of militants today made an abortive attempt to enter the IAF airbase near Awantipora in Pulwama district. All the four militants and two others were killed and three others were injured outside the gate, the police said.

It said the BSF and Army sentries foiled a bid by four militants to enter the Quil airport at Awantipora this afternoon. Weapons were seized from the slain militants. Three personnel of the BSF, IAF and one civilian were injured. A civilian employee of the Air Force and another travelling in a vehicle were also killed in the incident.

Two of the militants have been identified as Abu Umar and Mohammad Zakaria, both foreigners. Further details were awaited.

According to a police spokesman, preliminary investigations showed that the four militants masquerading as police personnel travelled between Pulwama and Awantipora in a private vehicle. “They stopped the vehicle near the gate and two of them got down and started firing towards the sentries”, the spokesman said.

Elsewhere in the state, the police recovered the body of Mohammad Yusuf Khan at Ashmuqam in Anantnag district of south Kashmir.

Unidentified militants shot at and critically wounded Haji Ghulam Ahmad Dar, chairman of the Truck Union of Baramula, at Uri bus stand in Baramula district this morning.

Meanwhile, at least 200 buildings were gutted in a fire incident at Burnai in the Gurez area of Baramula district last night. Preliminary details available from the remote area of Gurez near the LoC, which remains cut off during winter, revealed that the fire broke out from the house of Shehjar Khan and engulfed the whole village. At least 30 villagers were injured in the incident. The gutted buildings included a post office, a ration depot, a school building, the Sheep and Wool Department and ICDS offices.

According to PTI, there was no damage to the airbase during the exchange of fire, the sources said.

The encounter took place about 2 km from the runway, they said, adding that the identity of all militants could not be established immediately.

No militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

The incident comes close on the heels of the suicide attack on Jammu and Kashmir legislature complex on October 1 which claimed 38 lives.

On January 16, Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit had made an abortive attempt to storm the heavily-guarded Srinagar airport in which six LeT militants and two civilians were killed and 11 policemen injured.

Security forces across Kashmir valley have been put on high alert, they added.

Meanwhile, according to a UNI report from Jammu, an Army Lieutenant was killed in Pakistani firing in Nowshera sector of Jammu region today.

A Defence Ministry spokesman said in Jammu this evening that Pakistani troops opened unprovoked firing all along the Line of Actual Control (LoAC) on the Asoka post in Nowshera sector of Rajouri district this morning.

The Lieutenant has been identified as Anoop Kumar, the spokesman said.

According to a report from our Pathankot correspondent, tension continued to prevail along the international border and Line of Control following skirmishes between Pakistani and Indian troops during the past one week in Kathua and Jammu sectors.

Highly placed sources said the movement of the Indian Army continued along the border in Jammu and Poonch sectors. Additional troops had been deployed all along the international border and the Line of Control, while more than one battalion had been deployed in Nowshera sector and somewhere in Poonch sector.

The sources said Indian troops had been put on high alert after receiving intelligence reports that Pakistan had moved additional troops along the border.

Army vehicles, carrying troops and ammunition, were seen moving towards the border areas. The authorities, however, termed it as routine movement of units and denied reports of tension along the border.

The sources said the firing incidents had caused tension among the people residing in the border villages, and many of them were planning to move to safer places or join their relatives in Himachal Pradesh.

However, the authorities have denied reports of migration, but sources said some villages near the LoC in Poonch and Rajouri sectors had been vacated temporarily.

According to villagers residing in the border areas, during the intervening night of October 16 and 17, firing across border took place at Faqira Chak, Suchetgarh, Kullian Chamblyal, Narianpur, Pital Post, Pansar and Muthi Chaura.