India accused Pakistan of being behind Sunday’s separatist attack on an army base near their disputed frontier that killed 17 soldiers, in one of the most deadly attacks in Kashmir in a quarter-century-old insurgency.Four commando-style gunmen, armed with AK-47 assault rifles and grenades, burst into the brigade headquarters in Uri at 5:30 a.m. (midnight GMT) and were killed after a three-hour gunfight, a senior Indian army officer said. Four rebels were killed as the soldiers returned gunfire after the surprise assault before dawn on the base, located near the highly militarized Line of Control dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan. Twenty-eight injured soldiers were airlifted to a military hospital in the region's main city of Srinagar, four of them in critical condition, an army officer said. The four assailants, who also threw grenades that caused tents and temporary shelters to catch fire at the army brigade headquarters at Uri, were killed in a gun battle with security forces that lasted six hours, authorities said. Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh, the director of military operations, said he contacted his Pakistani counterpart to convey “serious concerns.”

Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh was more pointed, saying on Twitter: “Pakistan is a terrorist state, and it should be identified and isolated as such.”

Pakistan denied involvement in the attack, which came amid escalating violence in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir. Image copyright @narendramodi Image caption Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the attacks on Twitter

But Mr Singh said on Twitter that "there are definite and conclusive indications that the perpetrators of Uri attack were highly trained, heavily armed and specially equipped". In an even stronger response, Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted: “Pakistan is a terrorist state and should be identified and isolated as such.”

Pakistan rejected allegations that it was involved. No one has so far claimed responsibility, but Home Minister Rajnath Singh said he was disappointed with "Pakistan's continued and direct support to terrorism and terrorist groups". India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars since independence from Britain in 1947 over Kashmir, which is divided between them. The raid came as tensions were already running high in India’s only Muslim-majority region, which has faced more than two months of protests following the July 8 killing of the commander of another Pakistan-based separatist group. He had informed his Pakistani counterpart of his findings, which linked the attack on Uri to a similar raid in January on an Indian Air Force base in Punjab that India also blames on Jaish-e-Mohammed. India regularly accuses its arch-rival Pakistan of arming and sending rebels across the heavily militarised border that divides Kashmir between the two countries, to launch attacks on its forces.
Four Jaish-e-Mohammed militants attack an Indian Army base near the Pakistan border with at least 17 soldiers and four militants killed.