At least nine Indian policemen were killed and 10 injured yesterday in the first major operation by Islamic militants in Kashmir since the terrorist attacks in the United States last week.
A police official said a two-member suicide squad attacked a police camp at Handwara, 85 km north of Srinagar with AK rifles and grenades. One militant died in retaliatory action, while the other managed to escape. The separatist group Lashkar-e-Taiba claimed responsibility.
Militant groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir since 1989 have maintained a low profile in the past week, in the wake of US moves to forge a global alliance against terrorism.
The suicide unit first shot dead a guard positioned at the gate of the camp, and forced entry. They fired indiscriminately and hurled grenades, killing eight policemen, including three officers, and injuring 11 others. The policemen were taken by surprise, but engaged the militants in a two-hour long gun battle.
The assault was launched after midnight yesterday, creating panic in the Handwara township, which lies in the Kupwara district, bordering Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Injured policemen were airlifted to Srinagar's main army hospital where one officer died. Indian army and paramilitary forces have reached the area and sealed it off.
Lashkar suicide squads have become a regular feature of the Muslim insurgency in Indian Kashmir over the past year. Small squads usually launch night-time attacks on security camps, barricading themselves inside one room in the compound and fighting on until they are eventually killed by the security forces.