Guerillas attack Indian army convoy in Kashmir, 5 soldiers killed

Separatist guerrillas attacked an Indian Army convoy in the Indian-controlled-Kashmir Saturday, killing five soldiers and wounding four, and then made their way into a house near the national highway where they continued to fire, local news agency Indo-Asian New Service reported.

According to the IANS dispatch, the guerrillas attacked the convoy at Awantipora town in south Kashmir's Anantnag district, 40 km from Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-controlled-Kashmir Saturday morning.

"The militants first hurled grenades and later resorted to heavy automatic fire on the army convoy, which was going from Srinagar to Jammu in Anantnag town this morning. Three soldiers were killed on the spot and two succumbed to injuries later," Javaid Mukhdoomi, inspector general of Kashmir zone, told IANS.

The entire town was surrounded by paramilitary and army reinforcements that rushed there to conduct search operations for the guerrillas. The rebels were found to have made their way into a house adjacent to the Srinagar-Jammu national highway.

The militants are continuing to fire from inside the house. Traffic on the strategic Srinagar-Jammu national highway has been suspended, army officials said.

Source: Xinhua