NEW DELHI—Two suspected militants on Wednesday attacked a paramilitary camp in Srinagar, the main city in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, killing five personnel, a senior police official said.
Tauseef Mustafa/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Soldiers walk on a road outside a school after an attack against Indian paramilitary personnel in Srinagar, Wednesday.
The attackers were shot dead in fighting with the Central Reserve Security Force. They have yet to be identified, said Ahafadul Mujtaba, Srinagar's director inspector general of police. At least four CRPF officials and three civilians were also injured, he added.
The Himalayan territory of Kashmir has long been a cause of dispute between India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947. Kashmir was split between India and Pakistan in 1948, but both countries claim it in its entirety.
Indian Kashmiri insurgents have for more than two decades demanded separation from India or a merger with Muslim-majority Pakistan. Violence has dropped in recent years, but execution of Mohammad Afzal Guru in February prompted widespread protests in the state. Mr. Guru, a former member of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, was sentenced for his role in a 2001 attack on India's Parliament in which 14 people, including five militants, were killed.
According to Mr. Mujtaba, the attackers Wednesday threw a grenade into the paramilitary camp from a nearby neighborhood where children were playing cricket, prompting paramilitary personnel to open fire.
Additional security, including a bomb squad, has been dispatched to the site of the attack, Mr. Mujtaba said.
"Right now, we cannot speculate on which group is responsible," Mr. Mujtaba said.
Briefing lawmakers in the state assembly, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said it was a "fedayeen attack," an apparent reference to Islamist militants. He didn't elaborate. Srinagar is the state's summer capital.
"Five brave soldiers have been martyred today," Mr. Abdullah said, adding that he was awaiting further information on the attack.
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