Two Indian soldiers killed in attack on army base

Armed militants attacked a major Indian army base near the border with Pakistan early Tuesday, killing two soldiers, police said.

The attack comes at a time of heightened tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours following a deadly assault on an Indian army base in September that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

"Three to four militants entered the Army Corps headquarters at Nagrota and fired towards the officers' mess," a senior police officer told AFP, referring to a town in northern India roughly 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the border.

"Two officers were killed and an exchange of fire is on," he told AFP by phone, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Defence ministry spokesman Manish Mehta said the attack was still going on, but did not comment on the casualties.

"Early morning an encounter took place and terrorists have entered one of our military areas. The situation is under control, as soon as the operation is over we will be able to give details," he told reporters.

"Terrorists are armed, they have weapons, and that is why firefight is taking place."

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Nagrota base, one of four command centres in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir and home to over 1,000 officers.

It came after months of dangerous tensions between the rivals in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, and a recent rise in incidences of cross-border firing across the heavily militarised de-facto border known as the Line of Control (LoC).

Pakistan said last week that at least nine people had been killed when a shell fired from the Indian side hit a bus.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from Britain in 1947. Both claim the territory in full and have fought two wars over the mountainous region.

The latest rise in cross-border violence follows a September attack on a base in which 19 Indian soldiers were killed, the deadliest such incident in a decade.

New Delhi responded by saying it had launched "surgical strikes" on militant bases across the heavily militarised LoC, a claim Islamabad denied.

Indian and Pakistani troops regularly exchange fire across the LoC, but they rarely send ground troops over the line.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised hopes of a new era in relations with Islamabad when he paid a surprise Christmas Day visit to Sharif last December, but relations have unravelled since.

New Delhi, which has long accused Islamabad of sponsoring militant groups behind attacks on its soil, has also sought to isolate Pakistan diplomatically in the wake of the September attack.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said last week he was "deeply concerned" by the deterioration in the security situation in Kashmir and urged both countries to work together to "reach durable peace".

Source: AFP