SRINAGAR, DECEMBER 15: Militants attacked two security camps with rockets, rifle grenades and small arms and detonated a land mine killing a Deputy Superintendent of Police and an Army jawan and wounding eight Army personnel in north Kashmir early on Wednesday.Elsewhere in the state, 15 people, including nine militants, three Army jawans and a village head, were killed in militancy-related incidents since last evening, an official spokesman said here.DSP Kuldeep Singh died on the spot when a rocket hit his room at a Special Task Force (STF) camp at Palhallan-Pattan, 30 km from here, the spokesman said. A large number of police personnel staying in the adjoining rooms escaped unhurt.The camp suffered extensive damage in the attack. A spokesman of the outlawed Hizbul Mujahideen, who telephoned news organisations in Srinagar, took responsibility for the attack and claimed that four more STF men- Sub-Inspector Surjeet Singh, two other cops and an informer- were also killed in the offensive.Police denied the claim of the militants saying no one other than DSP Singh were killed. The body of the slain police officer was flown to Jammu with full police honours.Jammu and Kashmir Minister of State for Home Mustha Ahmad Lone, who chaired a high-level meeting of senior police officers, called for a thorough investigation into the rocket attack on the camp to ascertain if there was any security lapse so that the responsible officials could be dealt with according to law.24 Rashtriya Rifles Camp was the other camp attacked. A jawan was killed and eight other Army personnel were injured when a group of about 20 Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba militants armed with sophisticated weapons attacked the 24 Rashtriya Rifles Camp at Dengiwachi-Watergam in Baramulla district at around 3 am, the spokesman said.Immediately after the attack, the area was cordoned off by security forces but the militants are said to have fled. A spokesman of Lashkar-e-Toiba claimed responsibility for the attack and said that at least 30 security personnel had been injured in it.Militants also detonated a land mine at Hardu-Achloo near Tangmarg road in north Kashmir at around 11.30 am on Wednesday. However, no damage was caused, the official spokesman said.He said militants shot at and injured one Mohammad Rafiq Malla at Kanggam-Pattan who later succumbed to his wounds at the hospital. Militants also shot dead village head of Neoch, Abdul Gani, at Udhampur last night, the spokesman said, adding one Ms Mehra had been gunned down in her house at Batkote-Handwara in the frontier district of Kupwara on the night of December 14.Two foreign mercenaries were killed in an encounter with security forces at Thimran forest area near Achabal, 73 km from here, in Anantnag district of South Kashmir on Tuesday evening, the spokesman said.He said five unidentified militants and three Army personnel- Capt Amit Samyal, Naik Rakesh and Sepoy Joginder Singh- were killed in a fierce encounter at Krud in Rajouri on Tuesday.
