 "Photo Credit: ANI Twitter Handle")
17 Indian Army soldiers were killed on Sunday in an encounter with terrorists, who were all gunned down, at the Army Brigade headquarters in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir.
In a statement, the Army said that a group of heavily armed terrorists targeted the rear administrative base of a unit at Uri, and in the counter action, four terrorists have been eliminated and combing operations are in progress.
"The administrative base had large strength of troops of units turning over after their tour of duty who were stationed in tents/temporary shelters which caught fire, and resulted in heavy casualties. We salute the sacrifice of 17 soldiers who were martyred in the operation," the statement added.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Army Chief General Dalbir Singh will visit the Valley to take stock of the situation.
After postponing his forthcoming visits to the United States and Russia in the wake of the encounter in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has instructed Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and other senior officers in the Ministry of Home Affairs to closely monitor the situation in the Valley.
Later in the day, a high level security meet is to take place at Rajnath's residence at 12:15pm, in which senior MHA and MoD officials are set to attend.
"Keeping the situation of Jammu and Kashmir in mind and in the wake of terror attack in Uri, I have postponed my visits to Russia and the USA . Spoke to Governor & CM of Jammu & Kashmir regarding the terror attack in Uri. They have apprised me of the security situation in the state," Rajnath said in a series of tweets.
Around four terrorists attacked the Army Brigade's headquarters in Uri to which the security forces gave a fitting reply.
The entire town has been sealed and security on the vital roads connecting Line of Control (LOC) has been beefed up.
The Army sent three choppers from army's 19 divisional headquarters in Baramulla to Uri.
Reportedly six soldiers have been injured out of which three have been airlifted to the nearest hospital.
Para Commando troops were airdropped into the conflict zone to fortify the response by the defence.
Intense firing and explosions were heard in the area and the encounter site is nearly 90 kilometres north of Srinagar.
