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Sonia Gandhi: Uri attack a deplorable affront on national conscience

It may be noted that Uri attack comes only two days before Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is all set to raise the issue of Indian brutalities in occupied Kashmir in his address to United Nations General Assembly in NY.

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In a statement, the Army said that a group of heavily armed terrorists targeted the rear administrative base of a unit at Uri today early morning, and in the counter action, four terrorists have been eliminated and combing operations are in progress.

Officials told NDTV that the attack “is a part of Pakistan’s larger game plan to spread unrest in Jammu and Kashmir”.

Four “fidayeen” – or commando-style gunmen willing to fight to the death – were confirmed killed after penetrating the base in Uri near the Line of Control with Pakistan, an Indian army spokesman said. He added that initial reports suggested that they were from Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

Singh said in his statement that some objects obtained from the attackers had Pakistani markings on them, about which he had spoken to his Pakistani counterpart.

In a tweet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “We strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack in Uri”.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh chaired a crisis meeting in New Delhi and canceled trips to Russian Federation and the United States.

The BJP leaders were of the view the time has come for central government to adopt a decisive strategy to give Pakistan a befitting reply for what it has been doing in Kashmir under proxy war. Most people in the Indian-controlled portion favor independence or a merger with Pakistan.

Kashmir has been afflicted by conflict since around the time of partition in 1947 and Indian authorities claimed in 2008 that over 47,000 had died in the previous 20 years.

India accuses Pakistan of training the militants in its territory, then helping them to infiltrate into the Indian side. Islamabad has consistently denied this charge.

Afghanistan condemned a deadly attack on the Indian army base in the Indian-administered Kashmir urging to isolate those sponsoring terrorism in the region.

Pakistan denies any role in cross-border terrorism, and has called on the United Nations and the global community to investigate atrocities it alleges have been committed by the security forces in Indian-ruled Kashmir. A sweeping military crackdown and near-constant curfew have followed.

Rock-throwing protesters have clashed with troops firing live ammunition and shotgun pellets, and more than 80 people have been killed in the violence. Nineteen other personnel were injured in the strike in which four militants were killed.

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In a similar attack in January, armed men had scaled the compound wall and entered a front-line air base in the northern state of Punjab, near the border with Pakistan. The rebels managed to paralyze the massive base for almost four days, killing seven soldiers.

17 Army jawans and officers were killed and twenty more wounded in Uri close to the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Sunday