SRINAGAR: Two militants opened fire at an army camp in India-held Kashmir on Saturday but were killed in a gunfight, an army official said, with the second attack against security forces in two days piling pressure on the Indian government after it swore to end the violence.

Saturday’s attack happened on the Pathankote-Jammu highway, around 20km from the police station in Kathua district where six people, including two militants, were killed in a militant attack on Friday.

“The identity of the terrorists is being ascertained.... We have recovered arms and ammunition from them,” Brigadier R.S. Rana of the Indian Army said.

The two militants were killed after a gun battle that lasted for hours on Saturday. “We went slowly to prevent any casualties,” he said.

Security agencies believe that the two militants belonged to the same group that carried out the attack on Friday.

The national highway has been closed and state school examinations in the district have been called off.

“If (this) is indeed a terrorist strike, it marks a sharp departure from past attacks. Two attacks in two days in (the) same area of Jammu (is) very unusual,” former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said in a Twitter post.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2015

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