New Delhi: The Army on Sunday said the four terrorists killed after they slaughtered 17 soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir were foreigners and belonged to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad group.
The Director General Military Operations (DGMO), Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh, told reporters here the army had recovered some articles with “Pakistan markings” from the slain terrorists.
“They were all foreigners and belonged to the Jaish-e-Mohammad,” Gen Singh said.
Jaish-e-Mohammad was also blamed for the January attack on an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot.
The DGMO said he spoke to his Pakistani counterpart and expressed concern over the Uri attack, one of the deadliest in Jammu and Kashmir in nearly three decades of insurgency.
Ranbir Singh said four AK-47 rifles and four under barrel grenade launchers and some other ammunition was recovered after the early morning attack.
He said 14 of the 17 deaths occurred due to a fire after militants hurled grenades at temporary structures.
Meanwhile, central ministers here on Sunday described the killing of 17 soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir as “disturbing” and an attempt to destabilise the state.
“Loss of precious lives of Indian jawans [soldiers] is a disturbing moment for all of us. I shudder to think how the nation can ever repay their sacrifices. We need to put our heads together and devise a strategy,” Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh told TimesNow news channel.
Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman said the incident would not deter India from taking tough steps in the state to restore normality
“This would not deter us from getting Jammu and Kashmir back to normality,” she said.
Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh also called the attack a “proxy war” unleashed by Pakistan.
“It is a proxy war. A country, that is Pakistan, is focusing on how to disturb Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
Heavily-armed militants attacked an army camp at Uri early on Sunday morning, killing 17 soldiers and wounding a number of others. Security forces shot dead all four attackers.
