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SRINAGAR: A gun battle near the main Indian army base jolted Srinagar Tuesday evening--with details of the real impact being awaited--amid the firing which was going on--till last reports poured in.

The heavier exchange of fire between the unidentified gunmen n' the Indian troops was continuing--even beyond midnight Tuesday and in the pre-dawn hours today--Wednesday, an update information at 2300 GMT said.

Some reports suggest that New Delhi is contemplating to dispatch extra troops to the forcibly-invaded part of the Himalayan State--where people are engaged in a persistent struggle against India's illegal n' illicit occupation and to make it [India] quit the occupied soils of the Jammu n' Kashmir State at-once.

Explosions & Gunshots

Loud explosions have been heard, and heavy firing is reported between troops and an unknown number of gunmen. In Occupied Kashmir, Indian Army Headquarters at Badamibagh in Srinagar was attacked at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday evening.

The Mujahideen fired by automatic weapons at the main gate, which triggered off heavy exchange of fire. The entire area has been cordoned off. Gunmen attacked a well-guarded military base in occupied Kashmir on Tuesday and engaged in heavy firing, an official said.

Loud gunshot sounds were heard in the dark near the headquarters of the 15th Corps in Srinagar, a home ministry official said by telephone. The official said it seemed to have been a suicide attack by suspected Islamic militants, but details were sketchy.

Identity

The identity of the attackers and their intended target are still unclear. A police camp is situated in the area.

Thousands have died in violence in India-held Kashmir since freedom fighters took up arms against Indian armed invaders in 1989 with an objective to attain their right of self-determination--in line with the UN resolutions on Kashmir.

Initial Info

Initial reports say that gunmen attacked a heavily guarded Indian military base in Kashmir's capital Srinigar on Tuesday and engaged in heavy firing.

Freedom fighters have stepped up their operations in the held-Kashmir in the past few weeks, before winter sets in. The Himalayan snows, invariably forces the closing of mountain passes.

Gunmen fired at a security post outside the main military base in Kashmir's capital on Tuesday and engaged in heavy firing, officials said. No casualties were immediately reported and the gunmen had yet to push into the base, officials said.

Loud gunshots were heard in the dark in the Badami Bagh area, on the road where the headquarters of the 15th Corps are located in Srinagar. “There is firing going on outside the cantonment. We suspect there has been an attack on a CRPF picket, Col. Mukhtiyar Singh, the army spokesman said. CRPF is the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force. Singh said the militants had not entered the base.

Casualities

London's Daily, GUARDIAN said Tuesday night that gunmen attacked a security post outside the main

Indian military base in Kashmir's capital Tuesday, wounding at least three soldiers in a heavy gun-battle. Gunshots were heard in the dark on the road near the headquarters of the 15th Corps in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir, a home ministry official said. 'There is firing going on outside the cantonment,' Col. Mukhtiyar Singh, the Indian army spokesman said.

He said gunmen attacked a post of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force but had not entered the base. Three soldiers were wounded and one was in critical condition, a police spokesman said.

Al-Mansurian, a lesser-known guerrilla group, claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to the local Central News Service news agency. The group previously has claimed responsibility for several attacks and India claims it is a front for the outlawed Lashkar-e-Tayyaba.

Cordoned off

The home ministry official, speaking from his residence near the military base, said he still could hear intermittent gunfire after the initial barrage of heavy fire. The area was cordoned off and soldiers were looking in the dark for the attackers.

Indian army officer killed

Another report says that an Indian army officer was killed and three others wounded in the overnight ambush. "Militants ambushed the army patrol in Shopian, wounding four army personnel, including a captain who later succumbed to his injuries in the hospital," the police spokesman said.

Shopian lies south of Srinagar.

Search

On Sunday, troops searched the area and had shot dead two freedom fighters in an ongoing gun battle, an Indian spokesman said.

India and Pakistan--the nuclear-armed neighbors--have fought two of their three wars since independence over Kashmir.