Rebels strike Jammu army camp, kill 7

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">JAMMU: In a shocking security lapse, an Army brigadier was killed and Northern Army commander Lt-General Hari Prasad and other senior officers injured when a holed-up third terrorist blew himself up while they were reviewing the situation inside the Tanda camp, near Akhnoor, after Tuesday morning’s <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">fidayeen</span> attack on it.<br /><br />The attacks came less than eight hours after two grenade blasts in Katra killed seven people and injured 13 others on Monday night.<br /><br />Lt-Gen Prasad, Nagrota-based 16 Corps commander Lt-Gen T P S Brar, major-generals T K Sapru and D K Khanna, and Brig V K Govil of the EME were visiting the incident site when the terrorist hiding inside the camp blew himself up near them, around six hours after the morning terror attack in which seven jawans and two terrorists were killed.<br /><br />Brig Govil was grievously injured in the explosion and succumbed soon after.<br /><br />Lt-Gen Prasad, Lt-Gen Brar and the other officer sustained shrapnel injuries and were shifted to the Army hospital in Srinagar. Without naming the injured officers, the defence ministry said they received ‘‘superficial injuries’’.<br /><br />Lt-Gen Prasad, a Maratha Light Infantry officer, had taken charge of the crucial Udhampur-based Northern Command on June 1. The Northern Command, is responsible for the volatile Line of Control and counter-insurgency operations in the hinterland. <br /><br />A lesser-known militant outfit, Al-Shahuda Brigade, believed to be a shadow organisation of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility for the attack.<br /><br />The attack on the camp was carried out to protest against visiting Pakistani opposition leader Fazlur Rahman’s remarks that the Line of Control should be converted into a permanent border and that the Kashmir issue should be resolved within the framework of the Simla agreement, a release faxed to a news agency said.<br /><br />In New Delhi, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani said the militant attacks were aimed at disrupting normalcy and the peace initiative with Pakistan. Advani stated this while responding to a debate on the militant attacks in Katra and Akhnoor.</div> </div>