Srinagar, May 3:
Two senior army officers and a Sub-Inspector of police were among five
security men killed in a gunfight with militants in Chanjimulla
Handwara, a forest area in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, on Sunday.
Two militants were also killed in the gunfight which broke out at
around 3:45 p.m. on Saturday.
Highly
reliable official sources said that after an initial fierce
firefight, there was a lull following which five security men—a Colonel
namely Ashutosh Sharma, a Major namely Anup Sood and two soldiers of 21
Rashtriya Rifles besides a Sub Inspector namely Mohammad Sagier Qazi
of J&K Police’s Special Operation Group —moved close to a cowshed
near the house where the militants had taken refuge after escaping from
nearby Rajwara forests on Friday afternoon. However, there was a
standoff between them and militants amid inclement weather. The five men
lost contact with colleagues on ‘tour of duty’.
Meanwhile,
the army rushed more personnel including those from elite para forces
to the area in a bid to “rescue the men with whom contact was lost and
to neutralize the militants.” The operation, they said, was suspended
for the night for “obvious reasons” amid inclement weather as it was
raining heavily in the area.
At
the first light on Sunday, the worst fears of the security
establishment came true as all the five men were found dead, they said.
An army officer confirmed the casualties and said that the bodies of
two militants were also recovered. The officer said that a soldier
namely Shinbe Mangesh sustained injury in his right leg and was
hospitalized.
A senior police
officer also confirmed the death of the five security men and two
militants. The officer said that the “operation has been concluded” as
bodies of the slain militants have also been recovered along with two
weapons and other “warlike stores”. He said that both the militants
were foreigners and their group affiliation and identities are being
ascertained.
“In this connection, a
case under relevant sections of law has been registered and further
investigations were taken up,” the officer said.
Pertinently,
a search operation was started by the army’s 15 and 21RR besides 9
para commandoes and police in Rajwar and Mawar forest areas of Handwara
on Friday afternoon amid reports that a group of militants was hiding
there. The search team had also fired several warning shots during the
cordon and search operation following which an encounter ensued. The
militants later took shelter inside a residential house in nearby area
and army and police cordoned off the village and sealed all possible
ways to prevent the militants from escaping. (GNS)