Jammu and Kashmir: 5 security personnel, 3 militants killed in attack at army artillery camp in Uri

Five members of the Indian security forces were killed in a suicide attack on an army artillery camp in northern Kashmir early on Friday as militants step up violence in the disputed region near the border with Pakistan, officials said.

Ahead of the third phase of assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the militants have once again launched an attack on an army camp near the International Border.

Abdul Ghani Mir, a state police officer, said five police and soldiers were killed. Three attackers were also killed, he said, but it was not yet known if more were involved.

“We have cordoned off the area, the national highway near Uri has been closed,” Mir said.

Last week, a newly infiltrated group of fidayeen militants stormed into an abandoned army bunker near the International border (IB) and had engaged the security forces in a fierce gunfight leaving three soldiers including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) and four civilians dead in Arnia sector of Jammu division.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to campaign in Srinagar and Samba on December 8 for third phase of the five-stage assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.