Another soldier injured in Uri attack dies, death toll now 19

Another soldier injured in a militant attack on the Indian Army’s base in Uri on September 18 died on Friday, taking the death toll in the assault to 19, an official source said.

Naik Raj Kishor Singh, who was being treated at the army’s Research and Referral Hospital in New Delhi, succumbed to injuries sustained during the raid that India blames on Pakistan-based militants.

India carried out “surgical strikes” on seven “terror launchpads” across the Line of Control early on Thursday, seen as a reprisal for the Uri attack.

Thursday’s action is being seen as Prime Minister Narendra Modi following through on his warning that those responsible for the Uri attack “would not go unpunished”. The army had also said it would avenge the Uri attack at a time and place of its choosing.

The cross-border action came days after New Delhi reviewed its 56-year-old Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan and pulled out of the regional Saarc Summit in Islamabad as part of a wider diplomatic offensive to isolate its nettlesome neighbour after the Uri attack.