Srinagar: A Colonel and a Major were among five security personnel killed in an encounter at a village in north Kashmir’s Handwara area, officials said Sunday.
Two terrorists were also killed in the encounter at the Chanjmulla area of Handwara, which is part of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, they said.
Army officers Col Ashutosh Sharma and Major Anuj, and Jammu and Kashmir Police Sub-Inspector Shakeel Qazi were among the deceased, they said.
Col Sharma was leading a team to rescue civilians who had been taken hostage by the terrorists hiding in a house at the Chanjmullah area of Handwara in frontier Kupwara district of north Kashmir on Saturday, the officials said.
As the hostages were being rescued, the team, which also consisted of a Lance Naik and a Rifleman, came under heavy fire which was effectively retaliated by the security personnel in the outer cordon, they said.
The Army officers were leading a team to rescue civilians who had been taken hostage by the terrorists, the officials said.
Security forces including para commandos started the ‘first light intervention’ Sunday to flush out the holed up terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district where a standoff had been going on between the holed up terrorists and the security forces since midnight.
“Firing exchanges had stopped around 12 a.m. today and since three army soldiers and two local policemen are also inside the house which the terrorists are using as a fortified bunker, room intervention by the para commandos is being carried out with utmost caution,” a top intelligence officer told IANS.
Sources also told IANS that there has been no contact with the security personnel yet who had entered the house to sort out the terrorists without causing any collateral damage to civilian life and property.
It must be recalled that an army Colonel, who is the commanding officer of the Rashtriya Rifles battalion in Rajwar area of Handwara tehsil, his company commander, a major, the Colonel’s buddy (soldier guarding the officer) and two policemen including a sub-inspector, who is the in charge of the SOG camp in the area and his guard, a police constable, had risked their lives during the operation when they chose to enter the house to eliminate the hiding terrorists Saturday.
“Without caring for their safety in the true tradition of the Indian army wherein the officers lead our boys from the front, the Colonel and the major entered the house to sort out the hiding terrorists.
“Equally bravely did the police officer and his guard join the army officers to ensure that the hiding terrorists are eliminated without any collateral damage,” top sources told IANS.
The operation was initially launched in the forest area of Rajwar in Handwara tehsil of Kupwara district Saturday against terrorists who were reportedly hiding in the densely forested area.
Feeling the heat of the security personnel, the terrorists, initially believed to be two to three, came down to hide in a private house in Chanjimulla village thereby trying to save their lives by putting those of the villagers at great risk.
“It was to ensure the safety of the civilians in the village that the army officers and the police officer and his guard entered the house,” sources said adding that the room intervention presently underway is part of the operation to eliminate the terrorists and to segregate them from the security personnel who had entered the house on Saturday after which the radio contact with them had broken off.
Senior officers of the army and the local police, who reached the spot Saturday evening, are supervising the final assault on the hiding terrorists whose number is now believed to be more than three.
(Agencies)