Uri attackers likely had input from Pak military; hid during night

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 18

The militant attack at Uri in northern Kashmir on Sunday morning has caused among the largest number of casualties for Indian Army troops in recent years. It is being suspected that terrorists managed to hide themselves for a few hours inside the military camp during the night before launching the attack around 5am.

India is expected to respond to the attack in its “own fashion and at a place and time of its choosing” and not allow Pakistan to wash its hands of the responsibility for the outrageous attempt. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Army Chief Dalbir Singh Suhag have rushed off to  Srinagar to assess the situation. The Northern Army Commander, Lt Gen DS Hooda, and his team will brief Parrikar and General Suhag.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

As many as 17 soldiers have been killed and another 30 injured in the attack, one of the biggest in J&K in the past 10 years. In June last year, 18 soldiers were martyred and 11 injured in an attack by NSCN (K) militants in Chandel district of Manipur.

At Uri, 10 Dogra Regiment was in the process of being relieved by 6 Bihar Regiment when troops of both came under attack. In the past too Pakistan-backed and trained militants have attacked when a new regiment arrives at a location along the LoC.

The attack at Uri is just 6 km from the 749 km Line of Control (LoC) and it occurred at a time when troops were sleeping. “It was not inside the Brigade Headquarters at Uri,” the Army has clarified.

The sentries had not noticed any movement prior to the attack, indicating that the terrorists were hiding inside the camp or at the edge of it and caught the troops by total surprise as most of them were asleep. The maximum casualties occurred in the first burst of fire from the terrorists. It is near impossible to kill 17 soldiers in one go by just four armed terrorists. The camp is located close to a hillock and it is suspected that the terrorists came down the hillock and hid themselves unnoticed.

It was a full-moon night, and therefore not dark, which is not an ideal condition for an attack. Yet the terrorists mounted the attack, which suggests they had prior information of the change of regiments, and took the risk of crossing the LoC to target the troops.

Terrorists on their own would have no prior intimation of a regiment getting relieved. But Pakistan-based military commanders keep an eye using satellite imagery and ground-based human intelligence; thus the Pakistan military link.

But as the recently retired Western Army Commander, Lt Gen KJ Singh (retd), puts it: “It is too early for a postmortem of the attack. The Army has a mechanism to deal with any and all issues”.