Jammu and Kashmir police have booked three lieutenant colonels and 13 other army men on charges of attempt to murder, abduction and dacoity for a raid on a Kupwara police station during which they allegedly assaulted cops with rifle butts and sticks.

The FIR is a response to the army’s attempt to downplay Tuesday night’s incident and deny the use of force. Five policemen were injured in the alleged 11.40pm assault, which happened while some officers were reportedly sleeping.

A Srinagar-based defence spokesperson had on Wednesday said the reports of an altercation between the police and army and the beating of cops were incorrect.

“Minor differences between the police personnel and a territorial army unit on an operational matter have been amicably resolved,” the spokesperson said.

The FIR, however, alleges a brazen attack on the police leading to injuries. CCTV footage purportedly shows soldiers dragging more than a half-dozen men — in plainclothes but said to be cops — one by one out of the police station. The soldiers appear to pounce on one man and force another to sit in a semi-squatting position, leading to an altercation and an exchange of blows.

The officers named in the FIR include lieutenant colonels Ankit Sood, Raju Chauhan and Nikhil from the 160 Territorial Army.

The FIR says a “huge number of armed and uniformed personnel of 160 Territorial Army” led by three officers “unauthorisedly entered the premises” of the police station.

“They collectively and without any provocation, in the form of unlawful assembly, severely attacked the staff and officers present at the police station with rifle butts, kicks and sticks,” it adds.

The FIR says the information was immediately conveyed to senior police officers, who rushed to the police station to rescue the cops.

“Upon seeing the arrival of police units and senior police officers, the alleged personnel and officers of 160 Territorial Army led by lieutenant colonel Ankit Sood, Raju Chauhan and Nikhil brandished their weapons and snatched the mobile phones of the injured personnel and SHO PS (station house officer, police station) Kupwara Insp Mohammad Ishaq and while fleeing they abducted MHC (moharrir head constable) Ghulam Rasool along with them and absconded from the spot,” the FIR says.

The army men have been booked under 10 charges including attempt to murder, rioting, kidnapping and robbery. The police have launched investigations led by deputy superintendent of police Syeed Peerzada Mujahidul Haq.

Police sources said the army attack took place after a police raid on the residence of a local army man who was wanted in connection with a probe.